Halfway to Sublimity
by Kaeru Shisho
Summary: When Duo moves to a new town on the river, he meets a young man running the river and a rich boy who seems nice. Maybe he'll settle down for awhile, or maybe not. AU, male x male relationships.
1. Chapter 1

**Halfway to Sublimity**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.  
Warnings: AU, male/male pairings, language

**Chapter One**

* * *

It was four o'clock of a late spring afternoon. Duo Maxwell was thinking of renting temporary lodging, and accompanied the property owner to check out the cottage and, possibly, obtain the keys. He judged the man to be about his age, no more than 18; very wealthy, while he was not; handsome, as was he; and kind-hearted, which Duo worked toward. He liked him instantly; they were already on a first-name basis. 

"Here it is, Duo," the young man said, dismayed, "but now that I see the condition of the cabin up close, I'm embarrassed to admit it's my property. You couldn't possibly live in this. I'm sorry to have dragged you out of your way for this."

"Hey, exterior don't signify, Quatre. C'mon, I wanna look inside."

Quatre guided him to a small building in disrepair. The first step to the porch was rotten, and Duo fell through. "Duo!" Quatre cried out, offing him a hand up. "Are you all right?"

He wasn't hurt. It would take a far worse fall that that to harm Duo Maxwell. "'Sokay, Quat. Piece of wood and paint'll fix that."

"Is that a hole in the roof?" Quatre peered up at the ceiling while trying not to touch anything.

_Well, if I were wearing white slacks and shirt, I'd avoid the dirt, too,_ Duo thought to himself. "Yeah, looks to me like roof rats ripped it up some. Water damage by the fireplace. Be needing more wood and shingles.

"Lots of dust."

Duo followed Quatre's gaze to a hanging lamp embellished with spider webs floating on the fresh breeze."Plenty of that. Yeah, dust. Family of mice owns the pantry."

"And they are subletting your mattress to the riffraff relatives. Ugh! I'll send down a new one; if you decide to stay, that is."

"So, ah, where's the bathroom?" Duo didn't figure that even a Winner fishing party would piss in the yard.

Quatre made a face. "The privy. Really, it's outside. I'm sorry, it was just a fishing cottage."

_These Winner people have class. See, I was right, _Duo thought with satisfaction

Quatre trailed Duo outside for a look at the outhouse. "I'm really sorry about this."

"Don't be. I mean, at least there is an outhouse. The place is chill."

"Is that good?"

Quatre, Duo figured, wasn't accustomed to translating the Sweeper patois. "Good enough for me," Duo said. He put on a reassuring smile and stuck his head in the outhouse.

"I don't think I've been out here since I was eight."

Duo missed the rest of Winner's ruminations, because he was busy trying to breathe again. "Ah, it needs paint and lime," Duo guessed and gagged. "Little ruination doesn't bother me. Hilde, now, she'd have a fit. What's this?"

They attempted to open the door to a lean-to along one side of the house. It didn't budge. Duo tackled the stuck door with a running start, and the jam gave way, splintering a little. He raked the cobwebs from his face and looked around. "This is cool." Inside stood two tubs, one dark wood and large enough for six people, while the other was enamel and equipped for laundering. There appeared to be floor drains and by the door stood a wood-fired boiler. "Real cool."

"Is Hilde coming, too?" Quatre asked, politely not pushing Duo for personal details. Duo appreciated things like that.

"Nah, she's got full-time work back in the Serendipity scrap yards. I'm seasonal. This for water?"

Quatre said "yes" and they returned to the back yard, where they located the well and outdoor water pump. A clothesline stretched across an overgrown yard, but nothing else of interest to Duo.

"Besides the one in the laundry, there's a water pump in the kitchen, too, but," Quatre shook his head, "I can't rent this to you. I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep at night thinking about you sleeping with the mice and spiders. I have a bigger house, a groundkeeper's cottage that's empty. It wouldn't be so remote, either. There's practically a village on the estate. Two groundskeepers, a gamekeeper, the stable… Ah, I'll bet you aren't interested in hearing about all that. Let's just go back and look the other house over."

"But I wanted by the river. Nah, I think it just needs a little TLC and elbow grease."

"It needs a lot of hard work."

"That's what I said."

"I can't possibly charge you for this place."

"How about you supply the materials and I'll fix it myself then split the difference on the rent for the season?"

"Halve the rent on top of that and we have a deal," Quatre said.

"Remind be never to let you negotiate any of my business deals!" Duo said, laughing.

"Oh, I'm ordinarily pretty tough, but this place… I can't honestly accept anything for it."

"But you will."

"But I will, because I imagine that I'll be pouring that much back into it."

They both laughed and enjoyed the instant camaraderie they formed. Quatre may have been the young lord of the manor and Duo the seasonal scavenger and tinker, but they hit it off just the same. Duo hoped he had made his first friend in town.

"You can't stay here tonight. No, don't give me that 'I can rough it anywhere' look. You are coming with me. We have materials to order, supplies to pick out, and arrangements to make for it to be delivered tomorrow. You can dine, bathe, and sleep in comfort before, well, you write home to your Hilde and tell her you've made it safely to Sublimity, and I'll make certain it goes out in the morning mail. Please?"

"Quatre, you don't gotta twist my arm. Let's hop back into that fancy-ass carriage of yours and head into town."

(o)

The next day balanced on the cusp of a new season, and even though it was the last day of spring, Duo decided he still had time for his spring-cleaning day. He walked into town from Quatre's estate to complete his shopping. Duo was grateful for the kindness of a comfortable night's sleep, but refused to become anyone's charity case. He turned down Quatre's offer of a ride into town or to the cabin, his cabin, saying he needed to stretch his legs. He tossed back his long braided hair and grinned into the sun as he jaunted downhill on the hard-packed road. The air smelled of the fir trees lining the roadside and clustered thickly in the forest beyond. Dew clung to the cobwebs, sparkling in the sun, and the twittering of tiny wrens followed him as he progressed along the curving path. Sublimity was sublime, he decided.

"Goin' ta town?" called a man over the clopping of heavy hooves in the dust. "Climb up!"

"Thanks!" Duo hopped the horse-drawn dray carrying freshly milled kegs to the brewery, and road for the last mile to the small market.

"Farmer's market starts up this weekend," the merchant told him. "Best come early. Sells out."

"Okay," Duo said. "What's sold?"

"Seasonal produce from local farmers and that includes cheese and honey. Strawberries so fine…!"

"I'll be here," Duo declared. He continued to make his purchases and arrange for their delivery later that day.

(o)

He planted the ladder solidly in the ground and tested it for stability in the mushy ground near the chimney. Equipped with a few tools in a bag slung over a shoulder, he climbed to the rooftop. This afforded him a fantastic view of the river and countryside beyond. In the opposite direction was the forest. The Winner Watergardens estate was hidden from by the mix of dark fir and lighter maples, nearly in full leaf. His little cottage was very secluded.

From his aerial perch, he watched the lumber supplier unload his wagon, while talking to the driver of another cart loaded with paint and other building materials. In the near distance, he could see another conveyance carrying his mattress and two suspicious boxes rounding the corner to his river way lane. That cart also delivered him a young boy.  
The boy introduced himself as "Todd the Swift," as he skittered up the rungs with a basket-load of brushes and rods.

"Master Winner wanted me to bung out the chimney."

"I'll bet." Duo ended up getting very dirty when they tore up the leaky roofing around the chimney, resealed, nailed in the new flashing, and patched the roof rat hole. He encountered the worst of the grime when he helped Todd remove the tar build up inside the chimney shaft.

"There's somethin' up there." The boy raised his lantern and squinted. "Stuffed like a turkey. Prob'ly a nest or dead animal."

"Swell." Duo remained on the roof pushing while the boy poked from the inside until the blockage broke free and a nest of string, sticks, and lint fell to the bottom.

""Just a nest," Todd called out, clearly disappointed. He swept out the litter with the ashes and built a fire to test the draw. He rejoined Duo on his rooftop aerie. "All good!" he declared, to Duo's relief.

Their soot-smeared faces gazed out along the river. A narrow, fast-moving flatboat floated by on the canal side, steered by a young man with a long punt in one hand and another on a rudder. Duo stood and waved. He wanted that job and might as well get to know the other workers. Connections. The guide shielded his eyes with a free hand then returned the wave brusquely then lowered his hand to grip the staff and shove the flatboat away from the side. He disappeared at the bend in the river.

"That way's Tumult. North," Todd said in case Duo couldn't tell directions. "Prob'ly takin' guns for the border fighting."

"You know his name?"

"Who, the driver?"

"Yeah."

"Some guy, Yuy. Loner. You'll see him comin' back before dark most times."

"Most times? And the rest of the time?"

"I dunno. He stays there and comes back in the mornin' or goes further. He lives just over there on the other side of the river, Tumbletown."

The boy pointed vaguely to the south where the view was once again blocked by trees, but those were poplars and willows with their new, bright green leaves. Duo wondered what kind of place Tumbletown was, thinking it sounded like where the poor hung out. He'd lived enough of his life in shanty towns and didn't want to return to that. He was moving up.

"Want me to clean more?" Todd sounded unenthusiastic. "Place is dirty."

_What kid would be excited about sweeping every last smear of soot from the floor?_ "No. I've gotta mop it all anyway," Duo told him.

He offered the boy a drink as they passed one of the crates being unloaded, which Todd snatched up with a mumbled "thanks." There, they stood and drank in silence, neither one willing to part just yet. Duo had plenty of work staring him in the face, if he wanted to sleep in something close to healthy surroundings.

"So, I owe ya," Duo said at last.

He counted out a few coins and paid him what he owed plus a tip. Todd accepted the payment as due, pocketed it quickly, and then said, "My bitch's got a passel of puppies. Want one?"

"Possibly. They any good for anything?"

"Terriers are good ratters." He straightened a little and added, "My dad's gamekeeper for the Master, so he only keeps useful animals."

"Bring me the best, then, when they're weaned."

"Best is taken. Gotta runt."

"Like me, eh? Okay, I'll take the runt. For free."

Todd examined the ground, hands in his pockets, feeling the weight of the money Duo had already paid him and the tip. "Deal, 'cause we're friends. Wanna cat?"

"A cat? You got kittens to schlep off, too?"

"Good mouser. Prob'ly don't gotta even feed it."

"Is it male or female? I don't want a female, and get stuck with kittens of my own."

"Male then."

They settled on a price and Todd leaped upon the cart back to the Winner estate at the Watergardens. Duo smiled, thinking of his growing household then wondered, too late, what he'd do with the animals once he returned to Serendipity.

(o)

Duo resignedly leaned over, reaching for the bucket, and the mop fell over, the handle smacking him on the head. "Shit!"

Tired and frustrated by the load of work still to go, Duo determined that he needed help and a break. "Maybe that Yuy fellow on the boat could help. I could find his place and wait for him to come home. Mebbe."

As good an idea that it was, his walk brought him no further than the short dock fifty feet from his front door. He dumped the dirty bucket of water and rinsed the mop in the river, leaving it on the dock to dry. The sunlight glinted off the water, slow moving around the dock and slapping the supports with wet slurps. His legs folded under him. Off came the shoes and socks and he dangled his legs over the side. "Nothing better than this."

So he sat there, in the lazy atmosphere of a late spring evening in a little market town, staring at the last patch of sunlight on his dock, the only piece of the property well maintained. His eyelids grew heavy and he nearly missed the river flatboat traveling back south.

He was on his feet in a heartbeat. "Hey!"

The river driver turned his head. He must have recognized Duo from the rooftop greeting in the morning, because he drove his pole into the water and with an impressive show of strength slowed the craft mid stream.

"Duo Maxwell!"

"Heero Yuy. New?"

"Yeah. Just moving in." _Well, duh._ "You know anything about building?"

"Building what?"

"Anything. House needs repair. I'm a Sweeper. Outta work."

"You suggesting a trade of skills?"

"Yeah, for starters. I need work, fer sure. I'll do anything." _Well, practically._

"I'll be by in the morning," Yuy said as he pushed on the pole and moved on past, around a turn, and out of sight.

Duo stripped off his clothes and dove off the end of the dock. All he needed was a quick wash up and he'd be fixed. Heero, he thought seemed an okay sorta guy. Great shoulders, tan, nice enough to consider taking on a stranger. He looked forward to seeing him the next day. When he got out of the water he felt refreshed and pleased with himself, although he wished he'd thought to bring clean clothes and a towel. He hadn't, so he yanked on the grubby pants, letting his wet braid drip down his back, and carried his shoes and socks, hopping sharp stones and mushy spots in the path back to his tiny cabin.

First, he finished unpacking a box of lamp oil and new lamps, set one up, and lit it. It would be dark in a few minutes. The sun set as he closed his door. Grateful for Quatre's generous gift of a new mattress, pillows, sheets, and towels ("These weren't being used and I thought you could use them") made Duo consider what he could do in exchange. There had to be something.

Bed made, he added more wood to the fire and then padded back to the pantry. He immediately thought of all the things he forgot to order, but found his sack of potatoes. He reached further into the coolest recesses and pulled out a bottle of the local brew, and carried the potatoes and beer to the fireplace. He tucked potatoes into the ashes, banking up some coals around them, and sank into the dusty, but comfortable old chair. Living alone was going to be strange. He'd always shared places with co-workers and buds, and now a pang of loneliness threatened his contentment. _Threatened_, but it took a lot to bring down Duo Maxwell.

"Hey, it's summer tomorrow. I got friends here already. Sweepers are only a ride up the river away if I wanna go see'em, and it's only for the season. Getta grip, Maxwell!"

Still, he was glad to have a dog and cat coming for company. Until he found work, the summer days would be long, and the nights longer still.

(o)

He woke up to the sound of banging on his front door. "Ugh!" he groaned as he uncurled from the same chair he'd settled into the night before. "Damn!" He had fallen asleep without eating, too. "Man…" He must have been beat to do that. "Just a minute!" He smoothed his hair and shirt as he skidded across the clean, slick, wood floor to the door.

Heero Yuy stood at the door, sun streaming over the roof, lighting the trees, and glinting off the river. His eyes deep blue in the shadow of his dark, over-hanging bangs. "You weren't at the dock."

_His eyes are blue!_ "I, ah, no. I just crashed last night. Want breakfast?"

"If it's portable. We should be off."

Duo dug out the potatoes from the ashes, barely warm, dropped them in the sack, and skipped to the pantry for apples. "Too early for beer?"

"No, but I have that."

Duo handled him the bag, and waited just long enough to get another look at those lovely blue eyes. _Yeah, those._ "Gotta piss, then I'm good ta go."

Heero followed him out the back door. When Duo emerged from the outhouse, he looked for Heero and spied him squatting by a tree trunk, plucking flowers, awash in the pale glow of the rising sun. He swallowed, soaking up the sight of the attractive young man along with the sun's warmth. _Oh, man. _ Then he cleared his throat. "Ah, ready."

Heero nodded. "Buttercups and violets." He rose abruptly. "You have fruit trees."

Duo blinked and forced his eyes in the direction Heero pointed. The guy was intense in the way he spoke and moved, demanding all of Duo's attention. The rows of trees on higher ground rained pink and white blossoms in the breeze. He never would have noticed if Heero hadn't shown him, unless the petals landed in his messy dark hair. _ Like that one... _ "The flowering ones, yeah."

"There is a cleared spot up there for a garden," Heero continued to say as he led the way back through the house.

"Never had one, but I guess it might be worth it." _If I could watch you all sweaty and half naked hoeing away. _Duo sucked in his breath hoping he hadn't said that aloud. He hadn't, but he had to get a handle on his libido. He watched Heero leap off the porch to avoid the rickety stairs, admiring the slim, beautiful, strapping young man. "Yeah, that's just another one of the projects on my list," Duo said with a laugh.

"Your garden supplements your winter diet here."

"Say what?" Duo smiled. "I never grew a thing but hair," he said, grinning wider and swinging his braid to show it off, just in case Heero hadn't noticed. "Really, it sounds fun, but I'm only planning on staying the season—through early fall. I gotta part-time job back with the Sweepers. You been to Serendipity? You know, where the mountains are slag and heaps of scrap? I don't know how long my body can stand the fresh air."

Duo stopped at the dock, but Heero turned right onto the path and walked on. "Where ya goin'?"

"Boathouse. You knew you had one, didn't you?"

"No! Quatre didn't show me that." Duo ran to catch up since Heero was keeping a quick pace.

The soggy path led beneath willows and through reeds to a boardwalk. A dock hung off to the river side with Heero's flatboat tied at the end, and in the other direction a covered boat storage structure nestled deeper into the tiny cove. "A rowboat! There's a boat! Quatre, you devil! Why were you hiding this?"

"Do you mean Quatre Winner, Master of the Watergardens?"

"Yeah, I'm renting the cabin from him. He was showing me around yesterday and almost didn't let me have the place it was such a mess, but I convinced him I could fix it okay."

Heero studied his face until Duo lifted his eyes. "Did you like him?"

"Who, oh, Quatre? Yeah, real nice guy. You know him?"

A tiny smile flickered across Heero's lips. "Slightly. Everyone knows_of_ him, but few know him well. We don't travel in the same social circles."

"Oh yeah? Well, he seemed real and didn't treat me like the backwater scum he could've. Easy on the eyes, too."

Heero's sharp look in response to that last statement warned Duo that he'd almost certainly said too much. "He most likely didn't use the fishing boats and so didn't know about this. My broad-horn is that direction."

"Broad-horn's what you call flatboats here, I get it." Duo nodded and followed him along the dock. "Sweepers call'em barges mostly, but they're all flatboats in the end, right?"

Duo didn't expect an answer and stepped closer to look over the craft. Rectangular in shape but with a slight tapering fore and aft and with boarded up sides about two feet all around was all pretty average. A small cabin sat near the center for the use of the owner, but no other covering. "You've got a big load. That normal? I mean, that's lots to move for one guy."

"That's why I've been looking for help."

"So, I'm kinda the right guy at the right time?"

"Possibly. The work's full time, though. The river doesn't ice over so the work's year round."

"But you'd be willing to take me on?"

"I need the help," Heero admitted with a shrug. "Plus you _are_ easy on the eyes."

Duo's jaw dropped, uncertain he'd heard correctly. When he tried to catch the other man's expression, his head was turned, busy untying the rope from the boat hitch. He decided that Heero was ribbing him, so sloughed it off. No reason to get in a snit over nothing.

"Get on and grab the other pole. I'll show you how to push off," Heero said.

"I've punted before with the Sweepers," Duo said.

"Good. Take us south."

Duo continued on chattily, since his new friend listened more than spoke. "Our flatboats were all propelled by 'sweeps' mounted on the sides, thus the name 'Sweepers.' We also had a rudder and a short oar in front we called a 'gouger.' Some had a'hawser,' so if we hooked one end of the rope to a tree stump, we could wind up the reel to pull us ashore."

"I have a wince and can mount a rope to the reel on board, but it works better when there's two to work it."

"Well, now there's two of us," Duo said with a winning grin. Heero didn't react, so he rattled on to fill the space. "See, I specialized in recovery and reclamation, moving goods on and off flatboats with Howard and the Sweepers, and running materials up to the salvage yards of Serendipity. Then a week ago I got pink-slipped."

Heero gave him a questioning look, eyebrow raised.

"Laid off. Bounced for the summer and fall. Drew lots. Hilde drew long and I drew short."

"Hilde, your…wife?"

"Wife? Nah, roommate. Better company than the one before, a little nosey like most girls, though. Things got dicey after she wanted ta fomp and I said no and hadta set her straight. Anyway, I couldn't stay and leach off her, so I hopped a river runner north, saw a sign posted along the river that said 'You are Halfway to Sublimity,' and decided half way wasn't enough."

Duo chuckled at that then went on, "Boatman dropped me off and gave me Quatre's name to see about a place. Told me to ask at the market, where they sent a kid to bring him around. Had no idea where he lived. 'Bout pissed in my pants when I saw him roll up in that fancy-ass carriage. But he was cool. Even put me up at his palace on a hill for the night 'cause my mattress was ripped by mice."

"Winner invited you to his house?"

"I said so and I never lie." Duo's stomach rumbled, reminding him that he'd missed both dinner and breakfast. "How 'bout we open that bag?"

"What's this?" Heero held up a black, rock-like object.

"Potato. You never bake'em in ashes?"

"No."

Duo felt Heero's eyes rake over him as he cracked open the crispy-hard outer covering of the potato to reveal the fluffy, white innards. "See?"

Heero wasted no time breaking the other one open and giving the contents a taste. "How did you do this?"

"The cooking? I buried them in the ashes and fell asleep. Thankfully, the temp was low enough not to overcook'em to coal. You like?"

"Yes." It was a heart-felt "yes", too. "I'll have to do this. Beer?"

"Yeah."

"Here, I'll take over steering awhile."

Duo handed off the pole and took up the cool bottle. "Fuckin'-A! This is sweet."

Heero chuckled and shook his head. "You are not from around here."

"Got that straight. Just moved rural a few years ago. Born in the city. "How 'bout you?" Duo said no more, preferring to eat, drink, and listen rather than talk about his tawdry past.

"Been on my own for some time."

"I really do need this job. I ain't got jack-shit."

"That's about the only thing you've said that I've understood." Heero smirked, confusing Duo as to whether or not he was joking.

Duo finished off his beer and rustled the sack about for the apples. He tossed one, which Heero caught with lightening-fast reflexes, and chomped into the other, staring ahead and watching the river currents. "Where're we headed for? One drop point or more?"

"Just the one today. Local kegs to the north dock of Serendipity."

"And you get free beer?" _What could be better?_

"I get some beer, free."

"Yeah, they figure you'd snag some anyway, so might as well make like they're being generous."

"They are being generous. I don't steal merchandise, they don't expect me to, and they award me a little allowance. This is a new brew they're testing. What do you think?"

"Best I've ever had. Rich and dark."

"Stout. I like it too," Heero said.

When they reached the north-end docks, Duo steered them into an open slot. Heero jumped off to hail a dray, leaving Duo alone to moor the flatboat in place. His attention was focused on his task, so for a minute or two he didn't notice the large shadow pass over then hover above him. When he did, Duo straightened and fell into street-fighter stance immediately. No way was some schlub going to steal Heero's freight under his watch!

"I'll take that off your hands," the towering man said. His muscles stood out like braided ropes on his bare arms, his legs bigger around than the kegs of beer stood shoulder-width apart and the thighs still touched, his neck was as thick as his head.

"Get the hell outta my face, you schmuck, and make it snappy." Duo cracked his knuckles for effect. He needed all the 'effect' he could get, being short, slender, and unintimidating on first glance.

The ruffian flexed his arm muscles so they stood out like ropes and grinned. "Oh, I think you be the one with your ass in a crack, bushwhacker. Now, step aside while I lighten yer load."

"If you place one fucking foot on my flatboat, Sogran, I will kill you." Heero appeared from behind a large wagon, cocked the gun in his hand, and aimed for the man's head. "Odin trained me not to miss."

The huge fellow backed off, hands upraised. "Y-you're one of Odin's boys? Damnit, it's Yuy. Didn't recognize the boat with the other cocky lad on board."

"That's my new partner and that's my flatboat and my shipment and you are in the way of my unloading it."

_Partner? _ Duo liked the sound of that!

"Musta been a mistake. Got the wrong dock, ya see?" the man muttered, backing further until Heero lowered the gun and then he stalked off.

Duo found his voice. "I wouldn'ta let him take anything."

"I know. Sorry to spoil your fun, but I want to get home before dark tonight. Get unloading."

Heero signaled to the driver of the heavy dray to pull closer. Duo lugged a keg up from the flatboat to the dock and Heero hauled it up onto the open wagon. Barrel after barrel they heaved and muscled the containers off the boat and onto the carrier. When the last barrel was in place, Heero yanked Duo ashore.

"We go with the delivery to get paid. After that we'll eat dinner, all right?"

"Yeah to both parts," Duo said, surprised and pleased that Heero even asked for his opinion.

With money in their pockets, the two young men sailed into the nearest pub and ordered the special with ale, which was of the pale variety at the White Fang. Ensconced in a booth in back with their freshly drawn brews, they awaited their plates of food with better cheer than they had earlier on the docks. They didn't bother discussing the likes of bullies and thieves like Sogran, right then; instead, they talked about Duo's cabin and the work he needed done.

"Besides the porch steps," Heero said, "what else?"

"It's livable, but the Chick Sales is a scrungy hellhole and like a mile run in the dark," Duo said just as their brimming plates were dropped at their table.

Heero settled for a runic "hn," and looked totally baffled by what Duo could have meant, so Duo tried again using plainer speech.

"I thought it should be enlarged and connected somehow to the house and same with the lean-to; at least have a covered walkway."

"You are talking about the outhouse? Over dinner?"

"Ah, sorry." Duo grinned an apology and crammed more food in his mouth, figuring that Heero's penny-wise speech was meant to weigh against his own overspending chatter, thus keeping a balance.

"So, couldn't help but notice that you're packing artillery," Duo started up. "You ever run a con or make drops of hot mahoska?"

Heero shook his head. "I only take on legitimate jobs, if that is what you're asking me."

"Well, even _I've_ heard about the river traffickers that called themselves the Traders led by Odin Lowe."

Heero looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice. "I mostly run freight… guns and beer up and down the river from Tumult in far north to Serenity in far south. I carry a gun to protect from pirating and bear attacks at night."

"So, you aren't one of the Traders?"

"When Odin was killed, I struck out on my own."

"Killed? Way I heard it, he fell off a boat liquefied, loaded to the barrel and drowned."

Heero leaned closer, practically whispering in Duo's ear. "Odin Lowe was murdered by Dekim Barton."

"No shit!"

"Shhh," Heero shook his head.

"What happened next?" Duo said in a lowered voice.

"Most of the Traders moved north with Barton's gang."

"Enlisted?"

"Conscripted."

"Bunch of gamblers and scammers." Duo gestured for another pair of ales. "But not you."

"No." Heero nodded then returned to his dinner, wiping up the gravy with his final hunk of bread.

Duo didn't need him to add "end of story." The other man's body language unmistakably sealed off the subject. Duo accepted the refills with a sigh. "Great place, this. Never been in these parts. Funny, tough it out a couple years in Podunkville and you'da thought I'da found this. Go figure. Bushwhacker? That's a new one on me."

"Just another name for poling they use further south."

Duo knew different methods used to move the flatboats upstream, the most common being either bushwhacking or walking along the shore and pulling the boat by a rope, but that method only worked where there were cleared paths along canals, which could be found north of Tumult.

"Yeah, it's slow going upstream."

"About a mile an hour. In decent weather, expect a fifteen hour day."

Duo swallowed hard. That was one hell of a long work day.

They finished up, paid their bill and left soon after. They didn't want to linger and have another run in with Sogran backed by a few of his buddies. What they wanted was to punt up river to home, which even with the lengthening days would bring them in after nightfall. Although their flatboat was empty for the trip back, they were exposed to pirating more at night than at any other time. But this time all went smoothly. Heero dropped Duo dockside, turned the flatboat on a pivot, and then allowed the current to carry him the short distance to where he lived—Tumbletown, wherever that was.

Duo waved and promised to be ready in the morning for the next day's work, then trundled down his path to his front door. He saw a mountain of firewood stacked to the side and a small wooden box sitting on the railing near the broken stairs. In the box was a letter and from Quatre an invitation to come for dinner with the note 'bring a friend.' The letter was from Hilde, addressed to Quatre's Watergarden estate because that was where he had written from the evening of his arrival.

The box, Duo decided, would be nailed to the porch upright after he painted "mailbox" across it and got the postal boy to agree on an address for him. But that would have to wait until he had a few free hours. There was firewood to chop, food to buy, mending, building, ugh!

But not tonight. Tonight he was going to sleep in his very own bed in his very own room for the very first time.

End Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

**Halfway to Sublimity**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.  
Warnings: AU, male/male pairings, language**  
**

**Chapter Two**

* * *

The next morning, Duo was up with the birds. His front porch faced west, good for catching sunsets over his dock, if he had a chair from which to watch them. _A rocker would be nice_. His back door faced east, and, since his bedroom was in the back, his small, high, window let in the morning rays and low larger window the drafts and varmints. A stab of light in his eyes would be his second wakeup notice, but his first came in the form of twitters of finches and the raucous squawking of mating crows. 

"Shaddup! I'm up already. Damn, it's noisy out here." Duo rolled over, crinkling the letter from Hilde. He slipped it free and scanned it for the fifth time.

"…best that you're outta here, the sour way things have gone. You'd hate the mood now. Not enough work for the crew that's still on. We're all waiting for the other shoe to drop..."

He sighed, missing the familiar, but glad he had money in his pocket and work waiting him. Heero wasn't so bad either. He was the kind of man a guy wanted on his side; right thinking, steady, strong. He was probably arrow-straight all the way, _damnit all_. Duo's sexual persuasion didn't have to come up between them at all; in fact it would be avoided at all costs, he had decided.

He thought he'd queered everything a months weeks ago when he'd had to tell Hilde why he kept avoiding sexual contact and couldn't marry her, but he'd been lucky. She had accepted his news surprisingly well. She told him that she was glad to know the truth and moved on with their friendship, but not before lecturing him daily about staying alive. _Oh, yeah,_ Duo agreed, considering the rough men they worked with, that his sexual preferences should be kept a secret. In the future he'd have to be even more careful with how he acted and talked, Hilde pressed upon him. _And not stare so long at the good-looking river-rat._

Even in her letter, Hilde warned him: "You be good—do good—and watch your eyes. _They _flirt even when you don't think _you_ are. Bye love and write back when you can."

Thinking of Hilde made him think back to Solo, his first big mistake. One errant kiss and one dangerous word-- love. Solo could have killed him, but he didn't; instead, he laughed at him. "If I didn't love ya like a bro,too, I'da cleaned your clock for that, Maxwell. Yer one in a million, you are. Real jokester."

"One in a million…" Duo mused with a wry smile and a snort. He tied up his pants and wished he had some clean socks. Solo had made him wash his socks daily.

He had even wanted to believe that Solo thought he was special. But one of the other young street thieves overheard part of Duo's admission and unmercifully teased Solo about it. Solo lashed out and fists flew. Duo shuddered as he remembered how the night ended in a brutal fight. He didn't have to be told twice. He took Solo's advice and fled the L2 sector before rumors spread. Boys "like him" would be shown no mercy, so he ran, heading west for Sanc Royal, the capital city-state of the kingdom of Sanc. Along the way, he barely avoided becoming a whore in Perdition. Duo still felt queasy when the thought about how close he'd come.

"Thank you, Howard!" he muttered aloud.

That one fateful meeting with Howard landed him a job with the Sweepers in Serendipity along the Rogue River. Yeah, Duo thought ruefully, he was certainly special. Part of what seemed to be an exclusive club. Hilde had narrowed it down a bit more. "Wouldn't cha know I'd fall for that one-inna-hundred fag guy. Damn you anyway, Duo!"

If she was right, and Hilde usually had her facts down straight, then with every hundred guys he would meet up with, the odds were he'd find another one that liked boys. The trouble was he kept coming up with those other ninety-nine straight dudes. Not that Duo was about to give up. As he figured it, sooner or later he'd find a place filled with gay boys looking for love.

"Wouldn't that just be sublime?" he snickered at his own clever play on words.

Duo used the envelop from Hilde's letter to jot a few words to Quatre, should he or one of his "people" come by the cabin. He wrote: "Thanks for invite. Be there Sunday-- with friend, if possible. I'll ask. Thanks for wood. I'll see if postal'll deliver to me direct-like and save you the trouble.—Duo"

He pushed the envelop deep into his back pocket and moved to the fireplace. The kettle was large and usually hung by a hook on a wrought-iron bar over the fire, but Todd had set it to the side when he cleaned. Duo hefted the iron weight to the sink, primed the pump and filled it once, swished, emptied out the accumulated detritus, filled, swished, poured, and repeated until he was satisfied that the water was clean enough to drink. He hung the heavy kettle from its hook, added another stick of wood, and watched the flames lick the air.

While he waited for the water to boil, he measured grounds into a pot. He was eager to try out the local coffee roaster's wares. More than ready. After digging through his haphazardly arranged pantry and locating a few items of interest, he flipped open the knife he carried in his pocket, carved away a hunk of cheese, popped it into his mouth, cut another two pieces and sliced a portion of dry sausage. He dropped them all into a canvas satchel. Snatching up another pair of apples on his way out was the finishing touch to lunch. He stepped into his shoes and out the back to visit the deadly privy.

"Next on the docket when I get a free day, is to fix you," he told the wayward door to the smelly pit.

The sweet fragrance of roses and violets struck him on exiting the nasty place, which meant he had to tour the garden. It was far larger than he'd thought; the small orchard alone was loaded with more trees than he had seen from the door. He sucked in his breath and held it. He listened to the birds and drank in the rustic beauty that was his home. Truly a novel experience. A familiar voice, one he heard even in his dreams, broke him out of his reverie.

"Your water's boiling."

"Heero! Am I late again?"

Heero shook his head. "No set time. I assumed you were making coffee and went ahead and got it started."

"Yeah, thanks! Lookit this! I got little green fruits!"

"Cherries. They'll be ripe in another week or so. Cherries from the south might be at the market Saturday. Those are apricots," Heero said pointing to a tree limb sagging with fuzzy, green fruit. "Apples and pears are nearly bloomed out. Over there," he gestured to the far end beyond the clothesline, "I see berries flowering."

"Man, you sure know a lot about plants. You have a garden?"

"No," Heero answered, his manner curt, closing off further questioning as he turned back to the cabin.

Duo decided he had somehow offended his new friend and silently followed him to the kitchen. Yuy had already located two mugs and poured very dark, rich-smelling liquid into each. He was being quiet, too. _Okay._ Duo valued privacy. He wasn't one to pry into the secrets of others, especially to intrude upon his new friend's private matters, so he moved on, hoping to regain their feeling of camaraderie. "I don't have milk or sugar."

"I need neither."

"So, where we headed today?" Duo savored the rich taste with his eyes closed. "Damn this is good coffee."

"Yes, it is."

There was an almost sacred pause as both young men appeared to bless the powers above for the sanctity of the coffee. He watched Yuy breathe deeply of the aroma, his expression beatific for a moment, before he answered Duo's question. "We'll be loading beer again around the bend then heading north to Tumult to deliver and pickup scrap for transport to Serendipity tomorrow." He nudged the bulky bag Duo had dropped onto the small table. "You made lunch?"

"Yeah, we both gotta eat, right? Just holding my own in this business." _Hopefully..._

"Hn," Heero grunted with a nod and returned to his drink.

"Ah, I know it's kinda soon, seeing as I just got started with you, but I need a few short days or days off to do some work around this place and since Saturday's market day…"

"I can take off Saturday and Sunday."

"Hey, that's great. Ah… and Quatre, he's inviting us to his place for dinner Sunday night."

Duo caught Heero's furtive glance as he looked over his coffee mug. "Quatre Winner invited _me_?"

"_Us_. He said I could bring a bud."

"All right," Heero said, but his expression was wary.

"I'll just let him know," Duo said. He snatched the envelop from his pocket and added a "PS: Yes-- for Sunday with friend " He printed the words carefully, making sure the exclamation point was big and dark to highlight his point.

"I need to let our route contacts know we will not be delivering both days and everything's fine," Heero told him.

"Cool…"

"Get started, then."

Duo jumped at the orders. "Right!"

As the two young men headed out the front door, Duo remembered to drop the note to Quatre in his makeshift mailbox by the porch. They leaped from the top of the porch steps, and Heero grunted about the bad stairs that needed fixing first off. Duo laughed and told him "wait until you have to spend some time in the outhouse." Heero groaned and reminded him about the number of barrels and pounds of boxes they'd be moving up and down the river the next couple days. It was Duo's turn to roll his eyes and complain about sore arms.

"Sunday had better be good," Duo concluded, and Heero agreed whole heartedly.

(o)

The next day began like the one previous. Glittering rays of sun and chirping birds roused Duo. He rolled over the note Quatre had left in his mailbox the day before, the crackling paper imitative of the crackling grackles swarming his fruit trees. He stuffed the letter into his pants pocket as he dressed and went about collecting food. Heero never seemed to turn down the food he brought, so he thought he'd continue that ritual.

He passed on the coffee, hoping to beat Heero to the dock, and dumped hunks of cheese and dry sausage and another pair of apples into a canvas satchel. He passed by his mailbox, tucking a newsy note to Quatre inside. It was nice to keep in touch and Duo knew it would make meeting on Sunday more comfortable if they had touched bases all week long.

The air smelled green with growing things and the hot sun cut through the chilly morning air already. This time the river rushed by, cool and empty of all things Yuy. He thought about what Quatre had had to say and smiled. He took the note from his pocket and re-read it.

"The postal service refuses to deliver to your cabin. They say they fear for their lives with cries of 'gators and panthers (pronounced 'painters')', neither of which have _ever_ been spotted in any part of Sublimity. The manager said he would consider a route change, but it must go through the proper steps, which can take months. So in the meantime, Todd will deliver daily, more if you need him to. Why Todd, you ask? I'll tell you. He came to the house for Ruggles. Duo, you are not obliged to take that ugly little runt. Todd Switcom is a sweet little boy, but he's devious as hell. His father told him to kill the puppy, so he brought it to me. Just so you are warned, I've got a soft heart…"

"No kidding, Quat. You are a pussycat. I really don't get how you can play ball out there in the nasty world," Duo mused then returned to the letter.

"I took in the puppy, named it, and fed it milk from eyedroppers then a bottle. Rashid, you'll meet him at the door when you come, was thrilled to let Ruggles go to someone else's house, but when Todd informed me, under pressure, that it would be your home I told him-- well, I was stern, Duo. He will bring Ruggles to see you on approval Sunday, at which time you may accept or refuse him—no questions asked. He also—Todd, not the dog—has mail duty. Looking forward to seeing you Sunday, and your friend."

Duo chuckled when he remembered the postscript warning: "Don't let Todd dump a cat on you!" _Too, late for that_. He counted his thirty-third dragonfly, and had time to splash his face with water and dry it on a sleeve before the familiar flatboat eased into view. Heero polled in close enough for Duo to leap aboard and take up the spare poll to push off.

"I was thinking of a bath," Duo said.

"Here? Now?"

"No, not a river bath, a real one with hot water and a long soak."

Heero snorted, pretending indifference.

"I got one of those, you know."

Heero shot him an eager look, which he quickly quelled. "Where?" he asked suspiciously.

"Lean-to out back. Wood-fired stove and everything. There's a laundry tub, but most importantly a huge tub—big enough for six, I'd gage it." He focused on an imaginary point in the distance, safely far away from the other young man's face.

"No kidding?"

"Yeah, thought I might give it a go preparatory to Quatre's party." Duo looked askance from beneath his bangs, judging his friend's mood, but hiding his "give himself away" eyes. "Hey, I gotta idea. You come over early tomorrow morning and we can go to the market together. You probably know the venders and can steer me clear of the rotten deals."

Heero dipped his chin, encouraging Duo to continue.

"Then we go back and stow the stuff and do some work on the house, cool off with a swim, wash up, fire up the tub…"

"Your plan is good. I can sleep in the boat house."

"Or somethin'. Cool. Then we can talk 'garden' the next day, laze around, and then call on Quat for dinner."

"I haven't had a break like that in…I can't recall when."

Duo grinned, his long braid slipping over his shoulder as he bent into the pole. _He could not believe his luck, so he pushed it._ "Guess I got here at the right time, then."

A smile flickered at the corners of Heero's lips and he nodded once, "Yes," and work day sped by uneventfully after that.

(o)

The next day, they punted another load north to Tumult. The town stuck out on a windblown point bare of trees and devoid of everything Duo had come to think of as rural beauty. Neither wanted to stay longer than necessary, but today Duo wanted to visit the main street. He slipped into the apothecary shop to purchase some ointment to reduce the annoying itching he suffered from numerous bug bites, leaving Heero to fend for himself.

"Let's go in that place to eat," Heero said the moment Duo reappeared.

Duo looked over their clothes and made a quick assessment. "You think we look good enough? I don't see other dockers going in."

"Good enough."

They found seats in a dark corner, ordered the daily special and two beers. They situated themselves so they could survey the room and anyone entering or leaving. Duo watched Heero, who scanned the room with a nervous intensity.

"Looking for someone in particular?" Duo asked.

Heero dropped his gaze to his hands and whispered. "Barton's mercenaries get down this far. I've seen them before."

He frowned and ran a hand through his bangs. Duo had never seen him so anxious and now he was, too. Their food arrived, providing a temporary diversion. Plates of fried fish piled high around mounds of mashed potatoes yellow with butter were set before them. In the center of the table the waitress placed a bowl of trimmed fresh spring radishes and a saucer of salt. "More beer?" she asked.

"Of course," they answered.

"This is A-number one," Duo said.

Heero agreed. "Pricey, though."

Duo was about to argue, considering the quantity, when a man about their age entered the eatery. Tall, with a fall of caramel hair, and athletic build, he was striking and yet his demeanor was so low key he was easily overlooked, but not by Duo-- or Heero. When they both noticed that the other was checking out the newcomer, Duo chuckled and Heero blushed faintly.

"Know him?" Duo asked, hoping it wasn't an "ex"-something. Ex-boyfriend, ex-lover, ex-friend, ex-killer-- none were good in Duo's book.

Heero shook his head. "No. He looks like a trapper from the south."

Duo nodded. "Buckskin, yes, but moccasins?"

"Or..." Heero paused, "not. He's going to the gambling table."

"A gambler in trapper clothes and native footwear? Odd."

"Yes. Finish up. Barton's gang's known to frequent gambling establishments."

Duo and Heero polished off the last of the food, dropped some coins on the table, and left quietly. They didn't encounter any suspicious men in town or on the docks, but Duo didn't want to press his luck. If Heero felt uncomfortable in Tumult, Duo was ready to split immediately. The trip home was with the current and fast, for which Duo was thankful. He had work yet to do before his day was done.

"See ya tomorrow," Duo said.

"Yes, Friday. We have a load to pickup here and drop south, but nothing to haul back."

"Right. Later, then!"

When he got home, Duo thoroughly cleaned and tested the wood-fired tub in the lean-to, kept to his new bedtime routine, which included writing to Hilde and Quatre, washing his socks, and stuffing a couple potatoes into the hot ashes to bake all night. He wondered what Heero Yuy _relaxed_ might be like and wondered if Heero had been checking out the gambler in the same way he had been. He wondered and imagined and counted the minutes until he fell asleep and Friday morning finally arrived.

(o)

The return ride home up river from Serendipity with an empty flatboat provided the two young men a lighter than usual workout. When they had to pole a full load against the current, it was a hard job. Friday evening was cool, the bugs gone, and the stars brightly lighting the velvety darkness and furnished them an aerial causeway through the heavens. From Duo's perspective, it was romantic as hell, or would be under different circumstances, meaning a shift his way in his company's sexual orientation.

"Beautiful, ain't it?"

"Yes." Heero tilted his head up and scanned the stars. "When I'm alone, on the river at night, I imagine I'm piloting a ship…up there." He closed his eyes and turned his face away from where Duo was examining his expression with interest. "Foolish, I know."

"Nah, I was thinkin' how jammin' that would be. Man, would that be somethin'? Cruisin' the stars, makin' deliveries while outrunning the space pirates."

"Blasting them into particles with ray guns!"

"Yeah, _ray _guns," Duo repeated. "Those would be cool. Sun rays, you think?"

"Magic wa-ay cool ones," Heero drawled. He tossed Duo a quick smile, which Duo mirrored in spades.

The last of the daylight faded as they pulled into the inlet to Duo's boathouse. They tied the craft at the dock in the cove, because the vessel was far too large to fit inside a covered boat slot. Heero stowed a tarp then stood, unmoving, as Duo lit a lantern.

"You're not stayin' out here as bug bait. C'mon," Duo said, and without voicing any argument, Heero pulled a bedroll and bag from the storage cab of the flatboat and followed him, picking his way along the path to the cabin.

Inside, Heero stirred the fire, feeding it a couple sticks of wood, while Duo rustled in his pantry. "Beer?"

"Yes."

Duo popped the lids and dropped a bottle into Heero's outstretched hand. He took a long pull and then unfolded the blankets in front of the fireplace. Duo collapsed on the blanket next to him and stared into the fire. When the beer was gone, Duo collected the bottles and placed them in the carrier at the door, ready for cleaning and re-filling at the brewery. Not a word had passed between them, until Duo sighed, "'Nite," and plodded the few feet to the bedroom. "Coming?"

Heero twisted his head so quickly, Duo nearly laughed. One look at the surprised expression and he did. Heero's brows drew into a frown. "I have no trouble sleeping on the floor."

"Ha! You afraid I'm gonna strangle you in your sleep or somethin'?" _Especially the something._..

Heero examined the shorter, lighter weight, less muscular young man and snorted. "No."

"Then c'mon. It's huge. Quatre sent the damn mattress here figuring a family of five was gonna sleep in it."

Heero peered inside. The bed nearly filled the room. There was hardly room to get to the built-in closet or dresser. It was his turn to chuckle. "All right, as long as you don't mind how I smell."

Duo sniffed the air. "Can't smell you over me."

"We both reek," was the forgone conclusion they both made, but Yuy verbalized.

"Okay, since you're particular, we'll take a dip first." Duo nabbed a couple towels from a box, still unpacked, outside the bedroom door and pushed his friend in the direction of the front door. He shouldn't have drunk that beer, not with the two he'd consumed with dinner. Checking his behavior, especially around a nude Heero was going to be a challenge.

Heero took up the lantern and together they headed for the short dock. Duo turned his back and stripped, knowing the cool water would undo anything embarrassing that _arose_, and dove in without looking back over his shoulder at Heero. He sure had wanted to. Seconds after he hit the water, he heard another splash nearby.

"Shit!" Duo shouted.

Heero shook out his hair and laughed. "Too cold for you?"

"Damn straight! I'd rather sleep in my own filth than freeze off my rocks."

"Baby," Heero said while swimming in place facing Duo.

"What did you call me?" Duo's throat tightened defensively.

"A whining baby," Heero sneered, taunting him further.

Duo bared his teeth. "Oh, now you've done it. You've asked. For. It." He lunged through the water at Heero, grappling for a hold and then pushing his head under water. Heero fought his way free, breaking the surface, and sputtering before launching his own assault on Duo. Hands pawed, feet kicked, and lots of water was swallowed. They exchanged curses and laughter then separated, panting and paddling for all they were worth to stay afloat.

"Truce?" Duo shouted breathlessly as he treaded water.

"Yeah, truce. This water's too fucking cold to stay in any longer." Heero swam to the dock and hauled himself up and onto the dock. Duo was half a stroke behind him. They lay side by side, belly down, chests heaving.

"It wasn't this cold the other day," Duo said.

"Sure it was. You just didn't have a bellyful of cold beer."

"Right." Duo crawled over and grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist. He flung Heero the other towel, but not before he slipped a peek at Heero's uncovered body as he rose to his feet. The gleaming wet, broad shoulders tapered to lean hips, but the rest was hidden in shadows. The lantern's light flickered with the wind from the flying towel. Duo stepped into the darkness as he removed his towel and squeezed it around his braid, twisting out the water.

"Move it, stud." Heero passed him, lantern in hand and snapped Duo's bare butt with his towel.

Duo's head snapped first to follow the movement of the towel then to Heero's exposed body, but Heero had already tied his cover-up back in place.

"Chump," Duo barked in weak retaliation, and then replaced his towel before his member woke up and disgraced him.

Heero chuckled and Duo groaned. Inwardly, Duo chastised himself for the whiplash reactions the other guy could get from him and strode on ahead to the cabin. He messed with the fire, while Heero brushed his teeth in the kitchen sink, impressing Duo with his hygiene. Hygiene wasn't one of Duo's strong points, but he could adapt. He could be a conformist, while he was a sexual iconoclast. When Heero finished, Duo took a turn with the toothbrush, hoping Heero didn't mind sharing his. He heard Heero open the window in the bedroom, the wood sticking and groaning all the way. The scrape of metal on wood sounded as if the lantern had been wedged in place so the window wouldn't slam shut later. When Duo entered the room, he saw that he'd been right on. Heero had turned down the wick so the room filled with a soft, warm glow. He had even hung the two towels from nails on the back of the door. _Neat freak._ _Yes, but a naked, neat freak under the sheets and waiting for Duo_. _NO!_ Duo absolutely had to put an end to that train of thought.

"I'm beat," Duo said as he collapsed onto the mattress and pulled the covers up and over. "Gonna invite critters with that open."

"Hn," Heero replied. He reached up and put out the light.

"'Nite."

"Hn."

Duo lay awake for some time thinking of the way Heero's skin felt under water, how it looked wet in the light of the lantern, and how near it was to his in bed. He was inches away from heaven and hell, which placed him smack dab in the middle of Purgatory. Yeah, he'd visited that township once, too.

(o)

Duo woke up with the tap, tap, tapping of a blue jay on his open window sill. His first thought was to throw something at the bird to chase it away; his second was that he was completely naked lying next to a really hot looking guy who was also completely naked, and it was light out. No hiding this time, except that the other guy was still asleep. _Thank God!_ Duo understood opportunity when it knocked on his window, so he slipped silently out of bed and out of the room, found his worn clothes in a heap where he'd dropped them the night before by the fire, dressed, tossed a log amongst the glowing coals, and then ran out the back door to relieve himself. He stuck his nose into the lean-to and found that the water for the bath was gradually warming. He added another log to the stove and returned to the house.

When he stepped back inside, Heero was messing with the fire, stirring it to flames with a stick of wood. He was dressed, Duo noted with disappointment, shook his head at his stupidity, and thanked his lucky stars that Heero was dressed. More torment and temptation he didn't need.

"What do you want to do first?" Heero asked.

Duo could have told him exactly what he wanted to do, but since it was to Heero, and it would have meant the end of a freshly minted friendship, he lied a little. "Saturday market. We can grab some grub there."

"All right." Heero picked up the lantern at the door. "This goes back to the boathouse, right?"

"Yeah, good thinking, 'Ro. We'll drop that off."

Returning the lantern to the boathouse put them only a little out of the way. From there, Duo could find his way back to the path that led to the main road he had taken to town with Quatre. Heero had other ideas.

"This way."

"Is this a path?" Duo asked, ducking a thorny briar switch whipping the air above his head.

"If we maintain it, it will be."

Duo let Heero snap branches. He preferred slashing with his knife. Wild roses scraped his arms and snagged his braid. "This is fun, Yuy," he said flatly.

"It cuts our travel time in half. Do you want to go back?" Heero bent a small tree to the ground and stomped it flat.

"No." Duo licked his lips and stepped back. "No need to be so…intimidating."

Heero smiled out the side of his mouth. "Hn."

"Show off," Duo muttered and stomped on his own tree-- branch.

"This takes us around the Watergardens and lets out closer to the marketplace."

Duo un-snagged his braid from snarl of wild blackberry. "If you say so."

"I do and we're here."

The thick understory opened to a cleared meadow along which the Saturday market spread. Some vendors sold from the backs of open wagons and others had erected elaborate booths with canopies during the night. Bric-a-brac, ornaments and trifles; fresh produce, flowers, cheese, honey, and meats; crafted iron work, glass, pottery, rugs, and clothing— the Saturday market was a spaghetti-bowl of narrow, bustling thoroughfares swarming with life and products to sell.

"Man." Breath escaped Duo's lips in a long low whistle.

"If you are going to purchase a lot, we should arrange for transport early on," Heero said.

Duo was wolfing down a bread sample. "Gotta get some of this."

"Fine." Heero brought two loaves and a bag of hard rolls. He followed the swinging braid to the next merchant, and purchased a wheel of cheese and a canvas bag to tote the goods.

When Duo bagged handfuls of cherries, bright, fresh, and expensive, and apples, the worse for too-long in storage, Heero yanked on his braid. "Before you buy more, come with me."

"Whatsup? Oooh, coffee!"

"I'll buy you coffee, after you come with me," Heero said with a firmness in his tone that signaled serious intent. Duo followed him dutifully.

"Goats? No goat juice. Dear God, no!"

"Shut up." Heero ignored him and spoke to the goat merchant. Duo let him deal on his own, arms folded over his chest, eyes traveling over the booths beyond, until he noticed Heero leading a pair of goats harnessed to a cart.

"What the…?"

"Put your purchases in the cart. We are renting the goats and cart, letting them eat your weeds tonight, and returning them early Sunday," Heero explained.

"Okay," Duo said and turned to more interesting matters, like cinnamon rolls and coffee. "You take care of breakfast and I'll handle lunch."

"All right, but what about dinner?" Heero asked as he counted out coins.

"We'll buy it here and take it home with us," Duo said.

"You don't cook, do you?" Heero asked.

"Nope! Never learned. Hilde was good at that, when we ate."

They found a shaded bench and sat with their food and drink, leaving the goats to nibble at the grass nearby. Duo looked over at Heero when he felt his eyes boring holes through him. "What?"

"Why didn't you bring Hilde with you?"

Duo tensed. He knew he must look nervous and uncomfortable, but he couldn't help it. Heero was prying with no compunction. "I told ya. She had a job and didn't need to leave. Plus," Duo shrugged his shoulders to indicate he'd said enough on that subject, and concentrated on eating.

Heero either chose to ignore or didn't read Duo's body language, and pushed more. "Plus, what? You lived with her but she wasn't your, ah, wife? Not many women will do that."

"Oh, she wanted to be, that was the problem. Don't get me wrong. She's real cute and a catch actually. Dark hair, rather short, with blue eyes. Nice, ya know? But…not my type."

"You don't like blue-eyed brunettes?"

Duo cursed under his breath. Heero was a blue-eyed brunette and his type to boot, possibly. "I do, but… she was too… girly and curvy. Listen, can we get off this? I see a tailor's booth. Let's get some clothes!"

"I have clothes," Heero said quietly.

"Oh yeah? What have you got to wear for dining at the Watergardens?"

"Oh," a light went on, "all right."

The tailor's wife was a dressmaker who found that making men's simple shirts and pants wasn't so hard. Together, they sold off the rack clothes which he would adjust for length on the spot.

"I need a few things," Duo began.

"But mostly we want to look respectable at a Winner dinner party," Heero finished for him.

"Let me see what looks best but not formal," the dressmaker replied.

She clicked her tongue and rifled through racks and boxes pulling out shirts, vests, and pants in varying combinations until the colors and sizes lined up properly. She began with Heero. "White shirt with dark blue pants and…"

"The black leather vest!" Duo chose. "That looks ahhhhaa…good together."

Heero nodded his approval, and it was Duo's turn next.

"Cream shirt with gray-green pants, because of the red streaks in your hair, love," the woman cooed.

"And this." Heero chose a buttery soft tan vest for Duo.

Duo looked at him in wonder. He wanted all black, and here he was letting practical strangers dress him in… but the vest was so soft. "Okay. I'll, ah, need some work pants and shirts and socks—"

"And hats," Heero put in. "Who makes good, but not too expensive, summer hats?"

The tailor and his wife beamed their approval, thrilled to being asked for advice. "Two booths down. Benny. Tell'im Martha and Ramul say hello."

Duo paid for the clothes and loaded the packaged vests and shirts into the cart. He wouldn't let Heero pay for the clothes Heero required to wear to Quatre's. It was Duo's doing. The hats were for work, though--an absolute must as the summer grew longer and hotter, so Heero would buy those. The two men found logic in all this and fell into the mutual decision making process with ease.

After paying the bill and waiting for the clothes to be packaged, Duo joined Heero. "The tailoring is WIP as we speak. We can pick up the finished goods on our way out."

"Fine. Try these for fit. With that braid, I don't know what works," Heero said.

Duo tried on a selection of wide-brimmed straw hats for sun and leather for rain and chose two that accommodated his braid just fine. Heero picked two also and paid up.

"A few more things, then we'll go?" Heero asked.

"Sure, I could stay all day, but there's the house…" Duo sighed dramatically.

"Stop here." Heero selected bars of different smelling soaps and a box of fine pieces for laundering. Candles, matches, tea, and a few spices Duo considered to be terribly exotic filled a sack which joined the rest in the goat cart. "I need to go by the farmer's market one more time," he told Duo.

"Rice?" Duo asked as Heero make room for a heavy sack.

"Yes."

"What are those?"

Heero sighed. "Vegetables, Duo. Change of plans. I'm making our dinner, so don't argue."

"Okay. Do I get meat?"

"Do you want meat?"

"Yes."

"All right." Heero made one more re-direction to a butcher's booth and made his purchase quickly. "Now we must go or the meat will spoil in the heat."

With a quick stop back at the tailor's, the two young men completed their shopping and headed the long way back to Duo's cabin. Duo was in a fine mood. This day had gone better than he had expected. Heero was a great guy to hang around with and he never made Duo feel awkward or uncomfortable, well rarely. _If only--_ but Duo tossed back that thought before it materialized fully in his mind. They had their road to travel and work waiting for them at home. And another night. And a bath with a naked soak. Oh, my!

End Chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Three**

* * *

Heero left Duo in the pantry to unload his voluminous bags while he tied the goats in the orchard, where there was plenty to eat, shaded grass to forage in, and a basin for water, courtesy of some past animal lover. After a periphery check, he found no signs of large animals which had staked out the garden for their territory. 

"The goats should be safe for day, but we will have to quarter them indoors to be safe tonight," he told Duo.

"I ain't sleeping with a goat."

"I was thinking of the lean-to."

"I ain't bathing with goats either."

"Don't be an idiot. I'll tie them up to the door until we are done then move them inside." Heero scanned the "to do" list Duo had prepared on the hike back from the market. He checked off "stock some food" and annotated as he saw fit.

"Duo?" Heero's flat-toned voice sounded soft to Duo's ear when he said his name.

"Yeah?"

"Have you tested the boiler?"

_Boiler? Oh_. "Yeah, I cleaned out the tub and filled it from the pump. The fire's been burning awhile now. Last I checked the water was getting warm. It'll be great by this evening."

"Fine. I'll begin with the porch repair, but first I will get my tools from the broad-horn." He left before Duo could say a word.

"Good, 'cause I don't have many tools. What's this? Oh!" Duo skimmed through the "to do" list, frowning then laughed. "Oh, God, Hilde would have a fit!"

Heero had bracketed: beat out rugs, wax floor, curtains and window cleaned and written "_woman's work_" beside the words.

"**Wood delivered - chop into firewood**," had been added in bold lettering.

"Well, that goes without saying, dude," Duo grumbled.

He went outside and dug through the box of supplies delivered with the wood and paint. When he found the scraper, he pushed it into a pocket and then laid out the rest of the materials. He could always start painting the trim. He trotted around to the front and examined the porch. He was still standing there, hands on his hips, when Heero returned,

"The stairs and railing should be replaced first," Heero said. "Then the gutters before painting."

"Right," Duo agreed.

Heero knelt by the stairs and pried loose the rotting treads and uprights. Duo braced the opposite sides supported the uprights. "Joists look okay."

"Good. If those go, so goes your house."

After that they busied themselves with hammering and sawing. Duo commented on Heero's wood-working skills. He really did admire his strength, but also figured that since all guys liked that kind of compliment it wouldn't seem too forward-- which proved to be more trouble than it was worth. Heero shrugged off the praise and concentrated on the task at hand. _Okay._ Duo could mind his business and immerse himself in his job, too. This proved to be constructive.Together, they had the porch ready for priming and painting before dinner break.

"We can prep the house before dinner," Duo said.

"I'd like to get a coat of primer on, too. It could dry while we eat."

"Man, you are driven, but, hey, I'm game if you are."

Heero told Duo to start priming the new wood while he made short work of scraping the old. "You can do the front. I'll replace the gutter in back."

"Oh no ya don't. Not without a hand." Duo hopped to his side and took the other and of the ladder. "I'm not gonna let you do all the hard work alone. C'mon, it'll go quick with us both on it." He would impress Heero with his determination and work ethic, if he didn't collapse from lack of nourishment first.

Heero relented and led the way. Duo knew he was right when an overhead support, weak with wood rot, split as Heero tore it from the roof support, and gave way. Had Duo not been there to catch the separating piece, his river partnership might have been ended with a tragic accident.

"Hn," Heero grunted after shaking his hair free of wood debris. "Close."

"Uh, huh. See what I mean? We make a good pair." Duo winced and wished he could have taken back what he'd just said knowing how it might have sounded. As much as Duo would like to link them romantically, the other guy had not shown any similar inclination. His guilty conscience, thankfully, was working harder than Heero's imagination, because Heero made no sign that he took it in anyway than surface value.

"Hand me that board. I'll have to mark where to cut it."

Duo did and offered him a chalk nub to mark the cutting edge, which was accepted in silence. Duo caught the board as Heero lowered it back to him and laid it across the sawhorse. Heero, apparently, wouldn't share his saw with Duo; he leaped from the ladder to his side before Duo's hand grazed the handle.

"I'll do that."

Duo stepped aside and watched. "I wouldn'tve lobbed off a finger, 'Ro."

"Hn," said it all, and more.

For the next half hour, the two young men replaced weak boards along the rafters. "I can finish this," Heero told him. "Nothing major left."

"Okey-dokey, boss!" Duo added a wink and a smile, but Heero's back was turned and both flew over his head. "I'll be in front, if ya need me." _Which you won't_...

Duo returned to priming the raw porch wood, while Heero took over the surface preparation. He found more bad spots and ripped, sawed, and hammered in replacements as he went along. He checked for decaying caulk around seams and nail holes that needed filling. Duo could follow his progress by listening to the banging. Then it stopped.

"I'm starting dinner," Heero announced, causing Duo to paint a streak of primer over his hand. "I'll be back outside to help when I'm done."

"Great," Duo replied and he meant it. He was starving. When Heero didn't move immediately, Duo asked, "Want something?"

"No." Heero shook his head and stared at him with that uncanny intensity he had. "You smoke?"

"Have you seen me smoke?" _Where had that come from,_ Duo wondered, not that it's his business really?

"No, but I've found a few stubs around."

"Whoever used this for fishing probably did."

Heero seemed to relax a little. "You're probably right," he said, turned, and stepped into the house.

Duo geared up his painting speed, ratcheting his attack up a few notches, so that by the time dinner was done priming was complete and the entire porch had a coat of fresh paint. Heero smiled, so he must have been pleased with Duo's work ethic. They were dirty, sore and tired, and happy to rest and eat.

"Wow." Duo was "wowed" truly by the rice and stir fry meal Heero had created for them. "This is terrific. Where'dya learn to cook like this?"

"Odin taught me. I was the youngest of his…men, so I ended up doing most of the cooking."

"I'm impressed."

Heero smiled again. "I brought these." Across the tabletop he laid out an array of colorful packets with pictures of flowers and vegetables.

"What are--? Seeds?"

"You have a garden. You still have time to plant."

"Okay." Duo looked over each packet, reading the directions and shaking his head. _What would he do with the stuff, _he wondered? The pumpkins, he did the math, wouldn't be ripe until he was gone anyway. When he looked up, Heero was watching him expectantly, and Serendipity and the Sweepers lost their allure for him. _What if Heero wanted to stay on and harvest the food?_ "Tell ya what. Since you know more about this stuff than I do, how about we share the garden? You stay here Saturday and Sundays and we'll fix up the garden and work on the house. I'll buy food at the market and pay for everything. Whaddaya say?"

"I'd like that." Heero accepted just like that. He nearly smiled then straightened his back with his attention outside. "Hear that?"

Both Duo and Heero were on their feet and out the back door. The goats were bleating and a wiry, gray-brown animal was barking and running circles around them. Since the animal was a dog and looked to be herding the goats closer to the house rather than attempting to eat them, Duo saw no reason to dive into the fray.

Heero grabbed at a figure dashing past. "Hey!"

"Lemme go!"

Duo recognized the boy's voice and turned around. "Todd! Whaddaya doing here? Shouldn't you be home washing dishes or raisin' hell some place else?" Duo shouted over the din.

Heero leashed in the goats while keeping an iron grip on the boy's arm. "Can't you control your rat?"

"It's a DOG, not a rat, and it's HIS, not mine!"

Duo put the facts together in another exercise of mind-stretching math, and said, "That mouthy little thing's the dog you promised me? What did Quatre call him-- _Ruggles_? You weren't kidding when you said he was a runt. Man, that's one pug ugly flea breeder. What's it doing over here now?"

"Didn't Master Winner tell you?" Todd cried out. Heero must have released the boy, because he jumped closer to Duo.

"He told me you were bringing Ruggles over tomorrow, and not here, to the big house."

"Oh? Well, now you can see him sooner. See how he likes your goats? He's protecting them."

"Not my goats--"

"Protecting them from what?" Heero asked, cutting Duo off. He marched across the yard to where the goats had been grazing under the trees. A shadow. A flicker of movement. The barest crackle of the undergrowth. Heero considered making chase, catching up with whatever animal had been attracted to the cabin from the forest by the scent of goat. He patted down his sides fruitlessly seeking a weapon. He wasn't prepared to face down a bear or mountain lion, and anything smaller would have offered no threat, so he let it go and turned back.

"Gone," he told Duo. Todd was no where to be seen. "Duo, it will be too dark to paint soon. We're wasting time."

"And I just enlisted Todd's help. He's around front painting."

Heero nodded. "Good." As he picked out a bucket of paint and brush, he told Duo about the unseen threat. "I sensed something out there, but was unprepared for pursuit."

Duo shrugged. "Guess that gun of yours could be useful." He slapped on an "M" shaped swash of mustard-colored paint over the previous faded grey. "I used to be a good shot."

"Used to? Lose your eye sight?"

"Lost my guns in a card game," Duo said with a grin. "It was either that or my pants."

Heero choked and coughed suddenly. Duo jumped, lost his grip, and dropped his paintbrush, "Damn!" Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Heero suddenly look over and down, as if Duo had gotten his story wrong and lost his pants right then.

Duo bent to retrieve the brush, while his thigh-long braid slid across his back. He smiled and wondered what it would be like if Heero could actually become interested in him. _Would he look again?_ Duo looked askance and caught Heero watching him still as he straightened to return to his task at hand. He wondered if Heero liked what he'd seen, and his smile grew smug.

"Your hair's in the paint," Heero said.

"Huh? Oh." _Ah, fuck! How disappointing!_ While leaning over, the tip of his braid had slipped into the bucket. Now it was painting a golden arc over his ass. "Aw shit!"

Heero dipped his chin and turned his face away to hide his smile. "That braid is like an arrow pointing 'look here.' "

"Say… what?" Duo nearly choked on his own spit. _Was Heero hitting on him?_ A mistake would kick off an ugly scene if he guessed wrong. Duo watched Heero's free fist clench and unclench. _No, he's tense, mad probably._

"You ever wear that hair loose?"

"Uh, yeah, sometimes. It's hell to untangle."

"Why not cut it off?"

It wouldn't do to tell Heero that he thought it attracted hot guys or that it was a fun sex toy, so he recited his favorite excuse. "To remind me of where I came from."

Heero seemed to accept that reason with a runic, "Hn," and continued his painting without missing a brush stroke.

Duo was more confused than ever. If Heero was sending out signals, Duo was only intercepting a few and the rest were getting lost in the translation. "No," he reminded himself under his breath, "I'm that one in a hundred and Heero's one of the other 99. Those are the odds that guide my life."

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got until he flung his paintbrush to the ground, and stormed off to wash the end of his braid in a torrent of foul language. It was far better to let Heero think the paint in his hair was driving him crazy than to accidentally reveal how he really felt. He had to pull himself together before he blew everything with a careless remark. The cold water cooled his temper and ardor and put him in a better state of mind to return to work.

Duo continued painting around the house, skipping the lean-to structure, which he planned to tear down and re-build next. Heero worked around in the opposite direction. They met the much slower Todd in the middle. Heero took over the higher parts the boy couldn't reach, while Duo showed Todd how to paint the trim in the muddy eggplant shade he had let Quatre choose.

"Do I do the doors?" the little boy asked.

"Not with this paint," Duo explained, uncovering another bucket. "Dark blue for the doors."

The boy wrinkled his nose. "Weird colors."

"No shit, but it's Quatre's choice and his place."

"Can I do the doors? They look easier than these windows."

"Sure, don't drip; use these rags and keep your brush mostly dry. One direction, like this… then the other direction to smooth the lines. I'll bring out a lantern so you can see."

The light was failing. They knew they'd have to stop soon and touch up any misses the next day, but Heero seemed driven to complete the job. They'd have to accompany Todd home, too, and that bath awaited them. Another hour and Duo knew he was doing more damage than good.

"That's it!" Duo announced. "I'll wash up the brushes and you can put away the paint. Todd, we'll walk you home."

"What about Ruggles?"

What_ about _Ruggles? Whether or not he wanted the dog-- and Duo hadn't asked Heero what thought about the animal-- he didn't wish it carried off as an appetizer by some wild animals. Duo raced around the house and located the mangy mutt snuggled between the two goats, asleep. "Leave him. He's fine here, tonight."

"Does that mean you're gonna keep him?"

"For tonight. Let me think on it." Duo really wanted to sound out Heero on the dog first. He lit a lantern and they started out for Todd's home.

(o)

As soon as they were in sight of Todd's house,the games keepers cottage on the edge of the Watergardens property, the boy dashed off with a "g'nite!" so Heero and Duo just turned around. On the way back to the cabin, the two quiet young men listened to the crickets "creaking and reeking" in a syncopated rhythm with the "peeping and garumphing" frogs. The heat of the day was slow to cool, and Duo felt sticky and dirty, not that he couldn't go without bathing for weeks if he had to, but sharing a bed, even with a vast expanse of space separating them, required a greater state of cleanliness. But no amount of scrubbing would cleanse the pictures his imagination created of Heero and him naked and soaking in that tub. He hoped a cold dunk in the river first would help with the embarrassing erection, though.

"So, next weekend we paint inside."

"I thought you wanted to enlarge the outhouse, build a covered walk from the back door to the washroom, and link it all up."

"I do. I guess if we can figure out how to do that, I could get the lumber and nails we'd need during the week. It doesn't have to be all enclosed, just a covered walkway like with a boardwalk."

"Plans. The library has architectural guides and manuals. I want to review those."

"Is the library open on Sunday?"

"No. Nothing is open. We'll go Monday morning, no, Tuesday, if we have time," Heero said. "We should wash off in the river first."

"I was thinking along the same lines," Duo said. "I really need to wash my hair, though."

"Wouldn't the washtub for the laundry work?"

"Yeah, forgot about that." _Along with everything else in my self-interest,_ Duo thought.

"I'll check the tub temperature," Heero announced outside the house. "There's a sack I'll need in pantry."

"Go ahead. I'll get your stuff and bring out the soap and towels."

Duo gathered what they'd need to bathe and met Heero exiting the lean-to. Heero was smiling. "Hot."

Duo agreed wholeheartedly, thinking "_yes, you are,_"and dumped everything into a bucket, including two tightly rolled up towels. "Ready to freeze your ass first?"

"Sure."

They both stripped in the dim glow from the lantern at the end of the dock and jumped into the water together. They passed the floating soap back and forth and scrubbed furiously to keep the chill away. Duo refused to unbraid his hair in the river water, claiming, "It might catch a fish!"

"In that case, I'm going back," Heero said.

Duo clamored out of the water and raced him back in the dark. They chased around the back to the lean-to, where the heated room beckoned the goats and Ruggles as well. Duo hung the lantern on a hook, while Heero secured the goats at the door; Ruggles seemed to understand that they were his to guard and remained dutifully in place without a whimper. The young men were both wearing towels at their waists and nothing else. Duo watched every move Heero's toned body made, entranced. He was shaken out of his ensorcelled state literally when Heero shoved him toward the laundry tub.

"Undo the braid and bend over."

"Ah…huh?" Duo's face burned with embarrassment.

"I'll help you wash the hair first. I don't want to soak with pond hair." Heero's firm tone held a touch of amusement toward the end, especially when Duo clutched at the braid protectively.

As Duo realized Heero meant to wash his hair, he considered the finer ramifications and did as he was told. _Those strong fingers running through his hair. That hard chest pressed against his back. _His deft fingers worked at his length of hair, untwisting and separating the interwoven strands as he watched Heero empty the carrying bucket into the laundry basin and plunge it back into the hot tub of bath water.

"Hurry up."

"Okay," Duo muttered and shook his mane loose.

"Over the laundry tub and I'll soak it," Heero ordered.

"'Kay."

Duo's hair filled the large tub. "Hey!" he shouted at the wall of water drenched his head.

"Too hot?"

"No! I nearly drowned!"

"Hold your breath, then. Here comes another," Heero warned him.

"AH!" Duo gasped.

"You are so delicate," Heero chuckled as he set the bucket down and unwrapped another package.

"Now what? Just gimme the soap," Duo grumbled.

"The merchant at the market said these products would be better for your long hair."

"Y-you bought me hair soap?" Duo sniffed. "Girly hair soap? That smells like perfume!"

"Yeah, girly soap for a whining girl. Now, keep your head down and eyes shut, or not, and get an eyeful."

Duo huffed. "You're not very nice."

"I could be soaking in that tub and leave you to do this alone," Heero reminded him sternly.

"Yeah, sorry. I really do appreciate your helping me here, 'Ro. Go ahead with the smelly soap."

Heero did and while Duo worked the soap through the lower half of his hair, Heero scrubbed the upper half, concentrating on his itchy scalp. As good as it felt, it wasn't romantic, and Heero avoided bodily contact as much as possible. Duo sighed knowing that this was a good thing. Not sporting a woody on entry to the tub would be a good thing.

"Press out as much suds as you can, and then I'll dump the water. After Heero emptied the sudsy water into the open drain, he repeated dousing Duo's head. He repeated emptied the tub once more. Duo looked up through the dripping strands when he heard glass bottles clinking together.

"Beer? Hey, I hadn't thought of beer in the tub!" Duo was impressed that Heero had, but when he stood to shake out his hair he found that Heero was pouring the bottles into another bucket of water. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh, shut up and bend over again."

Heero's solid hands urged him back to the tub and gathered up all the loose hair. "This'll remove all the soap and make it shiny," he said moment before he slowly poured the bucket of beer-water over Duo's head.

"Man, this is so weird," was all Duo could think to say until he once again righted himself and looked over at Heero. He couldn't read the other man's expression, but Heero was staring at him.

"That is a lot of hair," Heero said. "I'm going to wash mine now. I need no assistance."

"Is that so? Well, tit for tat, I always say."

Heero dunked his head in the beer water, wet it thoroughly, and then straightened holding out his hand expectantly. "Soap."

Duo's mouth hung open in awe as he surveyed the enticing man, rivulets of gold trickling over his chest, dripping off his dark nipples, and tracing wet lines down his abs to soak into his towel. "Uh, yeah, sure." _I'm in lust..._

Heero quickly shampooed his shorter hair and, when Duo woke up from his daze, rinsed it clean. Together they ditched the spent water, stored the washing supplies back in the bucket, and turned to gaze at the large soaking tub.

"Ready?" Heero asked.

"You first," Duo said with a grand wave of his arm. He wanted one good look at Heero's hidden assets, and as the towel swept away, he got it-- all the right parts in the right places and one spectacular hard on. _Oh my!_

Before Heero could catch him gawking, Duo dropped his towel and climbed in, unafraid to reveal his own excited state. For whatever reason Heero could conjure up for the cause of his erection, the same could be applied to his. Of that, Duo was certain. He sank deeply into the steaming hot water and sighed. Heero moaned his own satisfaction. And so, they remained, carefully not touching, but oh so tantalizingly close, and stewed.

"This is divine," Heero stated.

"Sublimity. Devine is a hundred miles or so to the north."

Heero just grunted, but Duo caught a flicker of a smile dance at the corners of his mouth. Heero's eyes darted to catch Duo's then they both looked away. There was nothing to look at; at least, nothing Duo wanted to look at other than what he shouldn't, so he lowered himself into the water so that his hair soaked to the roots and floated like dead reeds in the water. The strands appeared black and ribbon-like with tendrils sagging on fingers and toes. He felt a tug and opened his eyes, ready to free the errant hair. To his amazement, he found it was Heero holding a wet rope of hair out of the water, studying it closely.

"Um, is it in your way? I can twist it into a knot or somethin'," Duo offered.

"No. It tickled my leg. I'm glad it wasn't a bug or frog that hopped into the tub by mistake."

"Oh, okay." Duo smiled and sat back, leaning his head on the tub's edge and closed his eyes. "I haven't felt this good in… a long time."

"Definitely," Heero agreed. "You didn't have to invite me, but I'm grateful you did."

"Yeah? Well, I'm glad I did, too. Never would have pulled off the marketing and house repair without you." _Or this sensational time alone with you naked in my house. _

"Or gotten this mess," Heero tugged gently on the hair he still held one more time before relinquishing it to the water again, "clean."

Duo chuckled, deep and rolling. "Yeah, probably true."

"You have a nice place here."

"Thanks. First place I've had to myself."

Heero nodded. "I, uh, live on my broad-horn."

"I figured something like that. Todd told me you were from Tumbletown."

"I keep it docked there, where Odin had a place."

"Had? It's not there anymore."

"Odin Lowe...after he was killed by Dekim Barton, the house and business were both burned to the ground."

"Man, what happened to the rest of the guys? How did you escape?"

"I was working. Me and another guy were unloading freight at a wharf up north in Tumult. It was too late to return, so we bunked there."

"Lucky for you."

Heero nodded solemnly. "When we returned… the others were dead or gone. Word was the survivors joined up with Barton and those that didn't had their necks slit."

Duo winced and rubbed his own creamy neck skin, touching the gold chain running around his neck and the cross. "And the guy with you?"

Heero shook his head, eyes glued to the glittering cross. "He took off like a doe in hunting season, and I've never seen him since. I was fifteen. Been on my own ever since."

_Take the chance,_ Duo decided on the fly, _and make him the offer!_ "Not anymore."

Heero jolted his head up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you got me. There's a dock and boat house for the flatboat, if we enlarge it a tad, it'll fit. And we gotta house that needs some TLC. 'Sides, we …ah… the company's nice, ya know?" Duo's eyes met the intense blue gaze a moment then swept away to focus intently on untangling a knot in his hair.

"Yes, it is. I feel—" his voice lowered a few notches as if he was uncomfortable with his admission, "like I can trust you." Heero paused until Duo looked up again. "It's been awhile since I trusted anyone."

"Yeah, heh, heh… I know whatcha mean. I hadda few trust issues in the past myself." _But I'm not gonna tell you about Solo or the others. _Heero waited and Duo knew he wanted him to elaborate. "I told someone a secret and it got out. It got us both into trouble and I had to skip town."

"Was it dangerous? The secret?"

"Only to me. I kinda fell for the wrong…person. I was fourteen, so I took off to the big city. Heh, heh…"

"You ran off to Sanc Royal? Alone at fourteen?"

"Yeah, pretty dumbass of me. I got as far as Perdition when my money ran out."

"What did you do?" Heero's voice sounded hoarse.

"Things I had to. I mean, I was little more than a thief before, but there, there were sharper folks about in Perdition and I got caught a few times. I had to do some shit I didn't like for less money than it was worth. Lucky for me, I hustled a Sweeper who thought I had potential and took me in, gave me a job, a home, and a chance at a better life."

"So how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"So am I," Heero said. "I don't remember much of my life before Odin took me in. I never had to steal, but he taught me to shoot and I killed…people. We moved here and I learned the river, while protecting freight from thieves."

"Good thing I didn't run into you sooner!" Duo said, laughing.

"Yeah, if I had caught you stealing our stuff, I would have shot you." Heero's words were chilling, even in the warmth of the water.

"Not if I shot you first," Duo said, daringly. "Like I said, I had guns. All the Sweepers carry'em. Yeah, with a gun I'm totally whacked."

"Me, too. Uh, that's good, right?" Heero asked with a guarded peek between hanks of wet bangs.

"Yeah, like excited." Duo decided to go for it and nail Heero's moving in with finality. He turned his charm to "stun", smiled fetchingly, and said, "So, you're gonna stay here, with me, permanent like, at least until winter, right? And keep your flatboat at the boathouse and everything?"

Heero nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, and we hardly know each other."

_Man, that was easy..._ "That's where the fun comes in. Hanging together. Just chillin', ya know?"

Heero chuckled. "Yeah, I'm totally, ah, whacked about it."

Duo laughed loudly as Heero's attempt to use his street slang. "This summer's gonna be the best ever!"

After that, Heero changed discussion topics and proposed a few ideas of his own to improve the lean-to and privy, which led to further rebuilding projects. They talked until their skin shriveled and the water lost its appeal. One at a time, they climbed out of the tub and dried off, although Duo's hair was a lost cause without a dry towel to contain it. Heero sent him inside to stir the fire to life while he tended to the animals. The goats were happy to enter the warm, safe lean-to and Ruggles would have gone if pressed, but Heero locked the outer door with him outside.

"Wouldn't you rather be with your owners awhile tonight?" he asked.

"Yip!" Ruggles barked once and spun around, which seemed an affirmative response, and joined the boys by the fire.

"Huh?" Duo grunted when the little animal skittered across the wood floor and dove at his feet.

"If we're going to keep the dog, he should get to know us. I'll put him out with the goats when we go to bed." Heero entered the bedroom and opened the packages of clothes they had bought at the market that morning.

_We..._ Duo liked the sound of that. _We keep the dog. We go to bed._ Duo heard the rustling, but he hesitated to unload his armful of doggy, so he shouted, "Bring me something to wear, too!"

"Oh, I was going to. I've seen enough of your skin for one night," Heero said. As he stepped from the room he tossed a bundle Duo's way.

Duo caught it in the face and sighed, thinking how much he wished he could see a lot more of Heero's skin that night. Heero was dressed and staring at him.

"I'll take the dog. What do you do about your hair?"

Ruggles was passed like a platter of biscuits, but didn't seem to mind. Duo stood to dress, not bothering to hide anything. _If Heero didn't like the view, he could turn his back, _Duo thought. "Let it dry by the fire then I'll brush it out and re-braid it, I guess."

"You have incredibly long hair."

_You've said that before._ Duo's eyes flitted over Heero's face. Whether he approved of Duo's hair or not was unclear, but the serious, young man was certainly making a feast out of running his eyes over Duo. Duo looked away and fastened his pants. Heero had placed Ruggles by his towel, stretched out on the hearth to dry, and turned away by the time Duo looked over at him. Now he was taking the kettle to the kitchen. From the sounds of water and cups, Duo figured he was making tea or coffee.

When Heero returned the kettle, now heavy with fresh water, to its hanger over the fire, he asked, "Tea or coffee?"

"I'll have what you're having—if it's good," Duo answered.

"Coffee in the morning, tea at night."

Duo smiled in amusement over Heero's well-planned schedule. "Okay."

Embers broke off, tumbled, and jettisoned sprays of sparks, interrupting the quiet of the night. The two friends sipped tea while Duo's hair slowly dried enough to brush out the tangles. Heero studied his movements with serious concentration.

"What?" Duo asked at one point.

"I cut mine with my knife," Heero said.

Duo pretended to look over the cut of the messy dark hair. "No, shit. A dull one?"

He regretted saying what was meant to be teasing, when Heero seemed overly concerned. "It's hard to…manage. Is it that bad?"

_No, but I am! _ It took all Duo's limited restrain to contain himself. He wanted to run his fingers through that shiny mop and stare into those deep, blue eyes and kiss those pliable lips. But... _Do not mess this up,_ he reminded himself. _Suck it up! _ He leashed in his drives, again, and smiled sweetly as he answered, "No, it's fine. Hair's great. _You _look great. Really. Really great. I mean—ah—"

He stopped when Heero started chuckling at his antics. _Saved again! _He exhaled out the corner of his mouth, ruffling his bangs. _Until we go to bed! _

"Ugh—" he groaned, louder than he intended. _Heero must make the first move! Is this it?_

Heero leaned in close, one arm reaching across his back and grabbing the brush from his hand. "We'll be here all night at your pace. I'll do you."

"Argh!" Duo cried out, meaning: _Yes! God, would you!_

End Chapter Three


	4. Chapter 4

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Four**

**Heero's POV**

* * *

Sunday morning sun burned through his eyelids. _There was time to get the painting done if Duo would get a move on_, Heero thought. He peered into the bedroom window and tapped. He could hear Duo moan as he slid an arm across the bed. "Cold, empty sheets means I'm up and out already, idiot," Heero muttered to the image on the other side of the glass. 

"Ah, shit," he heard Duo groan through the muffling pane.

Heero rapped again at his window, this time more firmly. He pressed one hand to the glass, the other held a loaded paintbrush, and glared at the sleepy face. Duo flew to the sill, Heero backed away, and Duo shoved open the window.

"'Ro?"

_That worked._ "We should get the painting done. Goats are out. Coffee's made. Dog's hungry." _And you're completely naked and gorgeous._

"Oh! Oh, okay. I'll take care of the food and be out in a moment."

"Clothes. Don't forget those." _Now blush again._

"Ah—" Duo looked down at his naked body and Heero watched the blood rush to his face as he snatched up blanket. "Right!"

_All right, indeed. _Heero couldn't agree more. The night before had been just about as wonderful as he could have imagined, just about. He had never felt to so close to another person as he had while soaking with Duo. He had seen that perfectly formed, lean, fit body unclothed and nearly died, really, willing, and able, and gone to heaven and hell and back. Quite a trip and he hadn't left the confines of the tub. Although he had admired other boys, it had always been from afar. The other members of Odin's Traders had been men, too-old men, from a kid's perspective. Odin had protected him from their attentions, on a threat of death, so he was pure. His mind wasn't.

He closed his eyes picturing the scene from the night before of Duo dressing boldly right before him! The flames reflected in his hair and along his rounded calves and thighs and illuminated his cock and balls. _Ugh…_ That monstrously long hair and the feel of it's heavy, silky, softness in his hands… Brushing it smooth by the fire until Duo stretched out and drifted off to sleep had been amazing. He'd never touched another man in that manner, or felt the need to touch more.

He hadn't, though. Instead, Heero had carried Duo to bed and climbed in beside him, leaving a respectable width of mattress between them, and, eventually, fallen asleep. When he woke up, curled around Duo's back, the temptation had been terrible to fondle and explore that lovely body—_terrible and wrong! _

Heero flew out off the bed and out the door, away from that body which was driving him insane with desire. And now, there it was again, displayed before him on the other side of the glass, and then disappearing under the covers. _Duo hadn't been so body conscious the night before, which meant… what now?_

There wasn't much to fix up, but the door and window trim needed a second coat. Heero out-voted him on the second coat for the railing and steps, but Duo put his foot down at a third coat. Heero was a workaholic to hide from his loneliness. He knew that. Maybe fate placed him here with Duo to find joy. He sincerely hoped the upbeat, gregarious Duo would come around to see it that way.

"That's it! All work and no play makes Duo Maxwell a crabby boy."

"Can't have that." Heero smiled and shook his head as he gave into Duo's desires. They had worked up to noon. Now they had to call it quits in order to clean up and get to the Watergardens' party on time.

"We'll be late anyway," Heero told him as he slipped on his new clothes, making sure Duo noticed his assets before he covered them with the underwear. He wondered at his own performance. _What was he doing? Would Duo think he was a lewd_ _exhibitionist? _

"We didn't have to be," Duo groused as he re-plaited his hair more neatly a second time in the dingy living room mirror.

His eyes were glued to the mirror, but Heero could see that they lingered on his image more than on Duo's own. _But what did that really prove?_ Heero stretched his arms overhead, bending backwards, and then reaching for his shirt. More importantly, would Duo want him, a man, instead of a girl? _Yeah, Duo watched that performance, too, but it didn't prove anything. How was he to tell if the handsome youth he was attracted to him or not? _

Duo seemed miffed now, so Heero ignored his mood and tied his shoes—two neat bows-- and said, "I'll get the goats harnessed and ready."

"Goats? Oh, hell, I forgot about returning them. Do we have to?" Duo hopped about on one foot, forcing his foot into first one boot then switching noisily to the other. Heero grunted an affirmative and headed out the back door feeling good in the clothes, especially the black leather vest Duo had chosen for him.

(o)

"So now we got a dog and two fucking goats," Duo grumbled alongside Heero.

Heero led the goats with Ruggles sitting proudly aboard the cart as if he was born to ride there. "Not really. The goats are both females," he paused fighting down a smile, "and the owner was right. Renting each week is expensive, and we are going to need the cart all summer."

Duo narrowed his eyes. "I know they're girls. I can sex goats pretty good, what with those bags of milk hanging between their legs. My problem with them is just that. We gotta _milk_ them!"

"I'll do it, or better yet, I'll teach Todd."

"Yeah?"

"You're still not convinced." Heero wondered if Duo's touchy mood meant he required food. He offered him an apple.

Duo drew a deep breath and let it out, and nabbed the offering in a split second. "Thanks, 'Ro." He bit, chewed, bit, and chewed more. Finally he settled into a less restive state and began talking. "I've never had dependents, ya know? Now, I've got these animals needing me to get back each day, or they die."

Heero's eyes fell on Duo, searching his face to see if he was joking around or not. The guy was perplexing. "I'm here, remember? And when we can't be, well, we can pay Todd to check out the place every day. Feed the dog—"

"Ruggles."

"Yes, him." He liked it when Duo said the name, but felt ridiculous when he tried to say "Ruggles."

Duo smiled and Heero returned it shyly. Sometimes he could believe that they would make a good team. Duo just made him feel so damned happy to be alive. He decided he would take his time getting to know Duo, since he'd never had a boyfriend and had no idea what that entailed anyway-- and that depended upon whether or not Duo wanted the same thing.

"Yeah, okay solid point. Goats'll do. They, ah, serve a purpose. Aaaand the doggy was a good call, I think. Todd's dependable. But you're just totally awesome and indispensable." Duo flashed him a broad grin, which Heero knew was daring him to argue the compliment.

_Hardly,_ Heero thought to himself, flushed hotly, looked away, voicing his universal reply to most comments, "Hn," and wondered what he'd use to replace apples. It would be months until the current crop of apples were ripe. "Do you like peaches?"

"Huh? Say what? Peaches? Where did that come from? Oh, well. Yeah, they're okay, not the fuzz, though. Plums are good."

Heero entered "plums" on his list of fruit to look for at the market. He didn't think Duo's orchard had those. It might be too early, though.

Duo was staring at him. "What's the matter? Peaches your fav? No matter. You know me, I'll eat anything, and I mean ANYTHING. I'll even eat a rat. You ever eat one? Heh, heh… Don't give me that look unless you've tried one!"

Heero decided that he would find Duo plums if he had to travel south night and day for weeks.

They entered the park-like setting of the Winner Watergardens estate walking slowly beneath overhanging cedar boughs, the trees soaring hundreds of feet overhead. Their path curled away from a willowed duck pond and across a rolling green edged with raised floral beds. Climbing roses cascaded down walls scenting the air and giving the finishing touch to a sublime summer afternoon.

"These are nice," Duo said, pointing out flowers he liked.

"You can ask Winner's gardener for cuttings," Heero said. "I'd get his permission first."

"Cuttings? Like in cutting up his plants?"

Heero shook his head. "Small samples to root and grow into new plants. Wouldn't be noticeable. Looks like your _boy's_ out looking for you."

"My…what? Oh." Duo punched Heero's hard shoulder in a friendly way. Heero smiled and defended himself with a block and returned with a punch that knocked Duo off balance for a moment. He liked how Duo could take teasing as well as dish it out. Relena never could. She couldn't fight, either. "Heya, Todd!"

After an enthusiastic greeting, Todd determined straight away that it was his duty to take the animals away. "They need milking."

_Todd noticed that quickly. _Heero though he caught a glimpse of sly thinking behind the boy's studied countenance. "Can you do that?"

"Yeah… Do you want the milk?"

"No."

"You keepin' these then?" Todd scratched the nearest goat's neck, causing a jealous feud to start between them as the other goat demanded her fare share of attention.

"Yeah, for the summer anyway." Duo smiled and shared the goat-scratching task, which brought on a whine from the neglected Ruggles.

Heero scooped up the young dog in his arms and was rewarded with a wet tongue to his chin. He made a face that sent Duo into peals of loud laughter. When he settled down, Duo continued. "Wanna have a crack at milkin'em? You could keep the milk. Sell it or whatever."

Todd beamed. "You betcha!"

"Everyday," Heero intoned sternly. He set Ruggles on the round to run and sniff at their feet. "Sometimes we'll be gone overnight when we've got a double freight load to take back."

The boy worked that concept over, his lips moving then pressing into a thin line before he spoke again. "So, _you'_re gonna live there, too?"

Heero nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Buddy up, ya know?" Duo embellished in a language the boy seemed to understand, although Heero wasn't familiar with the term.

"Oh, yeah. I share with my brothers, too. Okay. I can stop by twice a day. It's summer and I ain't got school. I'll do mail and check on the goats and play with Ruggles and milk'em and see that they're in at night and out in the morning."

"And you can keep the milk and we'll pay you a sliver piece each week," Heero added.

Todd's eyes widened to silver dollar size. "Yeah," he agreed. A proud grin spread to his boyish face and they all shook hands, sealing the deal. "Gotta go!"

Todd ran off with the goats, the rattling cart, and the barking dog, leaving Duo and Heero the rest of the lovely walk to enjoy alone. The sun-warmed stones and walls were too much. The dogs and cats they passed were all sprawled in various states of drunken delight, the effect of the roses, the sun, and the glittering air beaming out signals to sleep, sleep, sleep. Heero wanted to say something to Duo, but didn't know what. He liked the way the day was turning out. He liked walking alongside Duo. He was glad they had all summer together and he could take his time deciding what to do about his feelings for Duo.

When they reached the wide sweep of gravel road at the top of the rise, which opened to the grand entrance to the family residence, they found Ruggles. With the goats penned and safe, he had struck out on his own looking for action around the duck pond. He hadn't gone far, and collapsed by a stone pillar atop which lay curled an enormous, oafish cat, itself too lazy to do anything other than lay with its face on the hot rocks, furry arms clasping at the pillar. Dreaming of roses all.

The magnificently carved door flew open and Quatre Winner dashed out, his hair gleaming like spun gold in the sunlight. "Duo!"

Heero stepped aside providing him access to Duo. He hadn't stood this close to the Winner heir in years and he examined his features for familiar details. He was breathtakingly beautiful with flashing turquoise eyes and clothes in summer pastels which cost a mint just to keep clean.

"Quat! Man, what a day, huh?" Duo said with a wide yawn, "In another minute, I'd be face down on the walkway with the dog. Howya doin'?"

"Fine, great, actually, now that you're here. Where's— Ah, Mr. Yuy?" Heero thought Quatre looked puzzled, as if he didn't know whether or not to be glad to see the young Asian-featured man with the hardened eyes. Whichever, he was too polite to say anything rude to either of them, Heero decided. In a shock that rocked him out of his heat-induced haze, it occurred to him that possibly Quatre was attracted to Duo and had wanted him to himself, which meant he was very much an unwelcome visitor. A cog in Winner's wheelings and dealings was ruthlessly dealt with, or so he had heard.

Heero shifted his feet uncomfortably at Duo's side and Quatre moved away from the door and gestured for them to enter the rotunda-like entry. The room was huge, shadowy, and high-ceilinged, devoid of seating, with gilt tables and mirrors for decoration.

"Yeah, this is Heero Yuy," Duo continued unaffected by the prickly atmosphere. "You know each other, right? That's cool, then. He's taken me on to float freight with him and I'm sharing…" Duo hesitated all of a sudden.

Heero looked away, guessing that Duo wasn't sure if Quatre would mind him sharing the house. It hadn't occurred to him that it would matter, but it hadn't occurred to him before that Quatre just might "like" Duo. Combine that with Heero's showing up unexpectedly, practically uninvited, and then being introduced as Duo's new roommate (as innocent as it was, up to now,) would make him a person most unwelcome.

Duo then seemed to pick up on the strained feelings and so he altered what he'd been about to say, or so Heero thought. "…the boat docking area so we can save time connecting in the AM."

Duo smiled and stood with his hands on his hips looking from Winner to Yuy. He clicked his tongue. "So, I'll let you two get reacquainted for a minute while I, ah… I need to find the, ah, facilities? There was one upstairs, I remember."

"A WC? There is one even closer. Rashid!" he called over his shoulder to a towering dark man standing in the shadows. "Please, show Duo to the WC then bring him to the sunroom." He turned to his guests and said, "I have another friend due any minute. We'll have dinner when he arrives."

(o)

Heero watched Duo jog off, chattering cheerily with the much taller servant. Duo treated everyone the same, ignoring rank or position, as far as Heero could tell. Quatre waited a few steps away. Heero nodded and fell in beside him. They climbed to the second story, entering a bright, cheery room with comfortable wicker furniture upholstered in a dainty yellow and blue plaid with contrasting orange and white floral arrangements flooding the end tables.

"You weren't the person I was expecting," Quatre said bluntly, yet in a manner Heero considered to be cautious.

"Who were you expecting him to bring?"

"A young woman named Hilde. From what he'd said, I inferred she was his wife. And from the daily notes he and I exchanged, I sensed a feeling of longing. She was the first person he wrote to when he arrived and she sent him a letter, after which he wrote me to say he was bringing someone today."

Quatre folded his arms across his chest and looked out over the balcony to the grounds beyond. Heero moved to observe what it was that suddenly drew the other young man's interest. To his delight, Duo appeared outside beating his arms, while Ruggles bounced around. The yipping carried to the balcony.

Heero didn't know what to say. "He's not married. They're just friends, from what he's told me."

"And so are you?"

"Friends? I'd like to think so. Business partners certainly. Yes."

Quatre turned to meet Heero's gaze straight on. "I still sense the longing in him. When I didn't see Hilde, I assumed he missed her."

"He didn't tell you that," Heero asserted.

"Oh, no," Quatre said with a light chuckle. "Never! Not a word, but he doesn't need to. When Duo walks around the yard, his body's an entire conversation." They both stared out over the vista, listening in with their eyes. To Heero, Duo appeared "happy."

"I wonder why he's outside. Rashid surely didn't show him out."

"Maybe he didn't like your plumbing."

Quatre gave Heero the queerest expression. "You mean indoor plumbing. Surely they have that in Serendipity, besides he used the WC when he stayed here before."

"Yes, it's everywhere now, except for the remote homes, and our cabin."

Quatre's eyes widen with new knowledge. "You're sharing the cabin!"

"Does that pose a problem?"

"N-no, but it explains why Duo's so much changed from when I last saw him. So, you're…? Oh, my."

"His cabin mate. Yes." _In a tiny cabin with one bed._

"Then you _are_ friends?"

Heero nodded slowly.

Quatre sighed. "Lucky guy," he said, but he didn't say whom he meant.

"Yeah—" Heero was about to say more when Quatre gasped then laughed.

"Oh dear! I'd better go help. My other guest has arrived, and I didn't prepare him to meet Duo."

"Why would someone need preparation to meet Duo? He's a very likable guy."

"Because I invited Chang Wufei." Quatre and Heero shared knowing glances.

"The school teacher who arrived last fall?"

"Yes."

"He's a snob," Heero said curtly.

"He was the most respectable person I could think of to invite to meet the new 'couple' moving into my cabin. Sally Po was called away at the last minute to assist at a birthing." Quatre stood. "Excuse me. You may stay here if you like or come with me and protect our friend."

Heero dipped his chin and followed Quatre out of the sunroom. He felt sad for the other young man, who with all his wealth lived alone. Heero knew he had turned down the marriage proposal linking the wealthy Winner family to the princess of Sanc. He knew Quatre was a homosexual, and now Quatre knew, or suspected, he was, too, if he hadn't already known before. _Would Quatre keep that knowledge secret? _ Heero felt a rising horror inside his chest. _What if Quatre was not a man of honor and chose to tell Duo and the schoolteacher what he had just learned? Had he misinterpreted Duo's signals? Would he be mad because he'd kept his homosexuality a secret? What kind of a ruckus would that Chang guy make over it?_

Heero had not betrayed the Winner boy to anyone when he had had his chances in the past. Quatre stopped at the doorway and met Heero's eyes with a penetrating gaze as if he sensed Heero's roiling emotions.

"Your secret is safe with me. You trusted me enough to be honest before, and it wasn't misplaced, I can assure you. Believe it or not, I can be as principled a man as you."

"Hn," Heero grunted.

Quatre smiled. "I guess I have my work cut out for me, proving my worth."

Heero had nothing to say. He nodded curtly and Quatre dipped his chin acknowledging their mutual understanding. As he continued to follow Quatre back outside, Heero mused about their common tie, wondering if the other young man was even aware of it.

Their tie was Relena Darlian, princess of the Kingdom of Sanc. Relena was raised by her father and grew up on an ever grander royal-family estate south of the Watergardens in Sublimity, and not in Sanc Royal, where her step-brother lived with his mother. Princess Relena had become Heero's confident by a chance meeting when they were only ten or eleven. He had saved her honor, more than her life, in a silly boating accident. Quatre may even have been present at the time, but Heero didn't remember him. Relena and Heero, however, became secret friends and she developed a serious case of puppy love.

When one day she promised to marry him, Heero threatened to put a stop to their meetings. He was only twelve and romance was "icky," but to his credit he had been smart enough to know that a marriage between a princess and a river rat was impossible and told her so.

"That's a ridiculous thing to say," he had said.

Yes, it was harsh, but truthful. And as much as that truth had hurt her, she grew to value Heero's company and advice for what it was—friendship. So, when she was informed that she should be affianced to the Winner heir, Heero was the first person she sought out.

"He's a good match," Heero had told her. "He's nice and everyone says he's good-looking."

"You don't?"

Heero most certainly did find the delicate, blond Quatre Winner "good-looking", and at the age of thirteen that was his newest problem. As the other boys working for Odin were salivating over girls, he was _internally_ drooling over boys. He determined from the way the "late starters" were treated, not to mention the "pervert faggots," that his personal preferences were not a good subject to discuss with anyone.

"You will like him, Relena. Everyone says he's a terrific guy." And that was all Heero would allow himself to say, or he might give himself away with effusive talk.

She was satisfied with her fate until her first private meeting with Quatre, where he revealed his attraction to boys, not girls. She felt terribly sorry for the pretty young man and promised to keep his secret. She and Quatre concocted a story of "unsuitability" between them and the proposal was canceled. Next, she had to tell Heero of her new fate. Heero remembered that day for several reasons.

"I'm not getting married," Relena told him, "but you must swear on our friendship never to reveal Quatre's secret to anyone."

Heero swore a river rat oath never to reveal Quatre's secret, which was his as well. His mind racked up stacks of unfinished thoughts at the revelation; in particular, that he wasn't alone!

He could never forget how understanding Relena was, even sympathetic towards Quatre's "condition". She impressed him enormously with her noble spirit, so much so that he decided to reveal his own secret. Heero admitted that he "suffered" from the same "bent" sexual persuasion. She had looked pale to him, and couldn't stay to talk longer, but she had assured him his secret was safe with her. The following day he and another of Odin Lowe's river boys took a load to Tumult, and when they returned their home was gone and comrades dead or missing. Heero Yuy's secure life changed from that moment on.

Still, what cemented that moment in time in his mind most of all, though, was the fact that he hadn't seen or spoken to Relena since he told her he was attracted to other boys, and would never ever be attracted to girls, including her. He missed the friendship with Relena, and he certainly could have used a friend following the loss of his home and "family", especially Odin Lowe. He had adapted in the end to a dangerous, hostile world, but now, he hoped he had found a new special friendship and family all in wrapped up in the one person called Duo Maxwell.

Heero was pretty sure that Duo was homosexual, too. He didn't think he had misread the lingering looks or misinterpreted his insinuating comments. Duo was cautious, though, as he should be. He was new in town, but had already befriended the Winner boy and himself. _But how could he be absolutely certain? _Heero smirked knowingly. He had given Duo an eyeful while bathing. They were partners at work and now shared a house. It shouldn't take much to let Duo know that he was interested in an intimate relationship as well. Courage, maybe. Heero could be brave. But now, Heero felt the need to move faster, before Winner won over Duo's attention.

The stuffy school teacher, Chang Wufei, was another obstacle altogether. Two more opposing personalities Heero couldn't imagine. He wasn't at all certain that Duo could befriend that man, but didn't care either. At least Chang wouldn't be competing for Duo's heart.

(o)

Heero and Quatre stepped outside in time to see Duo dancing with his untidy-looking, runty dog, his long braid whipping past his ass, and he his voice loud, whooping and hollering. Heero figured that Duo had escaped Rashid's clutches to let them sort out their issues without him in the middle, and now he was playing the game "Who can leap the highest?" with Ruggles.

From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of a figure riding up on a fine, black horse and dismount. Duo, he saw, stopped his game, straightened his shirt, and turned toward the stranger, smile in place. Heero felt a sting of jealousy because of that smile. Obviously, Duo was delighted to see that newcomer was a handsome young man with a fantastic build.

"Hiya!" Duo greeted him.

"Oh, dear," Quatre said. "We'd better hurry."

Heero thought Duo could handle himself just fine, until he witnessed the first moments of the greeting. Chang Wufei halted in front on Duo and looked at the outstretched hand with contempt.

"I left my horse with the stable boy already. What do you want?"

"Uh, from you? Nothing. I'm a bud of Quat's here for dinner. Name's Duo Maxwell." He rubbed his palms on his pant legs and smiled at Wufei's souring expression.

"Make sure Duo keeps his distance from me. I dislike small, smelly animals."

Duo looked down at Ruggles. "Ah, you got that all wrong. I'm Duo and his name's Ruggles, just to set the record straight."

Wufei stared at Duo as if he might become a dog in time. They were saved by the arrival of Quatre and Heero; the former greeted the Chinese man in a formal but friendly way, while the latter muscled his way to Duo's side. If the arrogant guy found him over-protective toward Duo, for a new friend, then so be it, Heero thought with satisfaction. He looked forward to matching his Japanese-style fighting technique with what he's heard was Chang's superb Chinese Kung-Fu.

Meanwhile, Winner was leading them all past the entry to his estate, talking enthusiastically about the weather, his excitement about their company, and other topics Heero had no interest in. "Champagne everyone," Quatre giggled. "I want to make a toast to our new friendship."

With the excellent champagne bubbling to feathery heights, the tension broke. Duo remarked after downing his first glass, "You know, I'm feeling this already. If I don't get some food in me I'll be woofled good!"

Heero guessed Chang had a smart rejoinder to make, and started to say something, but Winner leaped in first, saying, "He's right. I'm starving anyway." Chang's lips pressed into a line of disappointment, causing Heero to sniff as he hid a snide smile. He liked this moneyed Quatre Winner guy immensely.

Heero heard Duo's gasp as he entered the lavishly decorated dining room. The floor was inlaid, the door frames marble, the gilt mirrors enormous. A massive crystal chandelier hung over the table set for four, but which could easily accommodate two dozen people. The silver and crystal glittered and the crisp, white linen napkins glowed upon the gleaming dark wood tabletop.

"Man—" Duo said.

"Why don't you take this seat," Quatre indicated one beside his, "and Heero can take the one across from you, all right?"

Chang hesitated before marching around the table to take the chair opposite Winner. Heero assumed he usually sat a Winner's elbow at gatherings of their associates, whoever they were.

Quatre beckoned to a servant and the man jumped to action. Food appeared in copious quantities. Heero perused the menu, which had been handwritten in beautiful calligraphy, and shook his head thinking that the food would be too rich for Duo and him. He wanted to warn Duo surreptitiously, but could find no way to do so without drawing attention to himself. He didn't want to embarrass Duo. Duo's eyes darted from the silverware to the footman to the glittering lights completely enraptured by the decorations.

"Feel free to just pick and choose what you want. I wasn't sure what you preferred so there's a wide assortment of dishes," Quatre said to the room at large.

"Thanks," Heero said, loading the remark with all the meaning he could.

Quatre met his eyes and smiled. "I usually only sample the courses. If I actually ate everything that was served me, I'd be too wide to pass through the doors!"

Duo nodded, and Heero hoped he understood what Quatre was delicately trying to tell him.

Wufei commented, "The sauces are too rich for my tastes."

"But you like them for all that!" Quatre said, laughing at his dour friend's expense.

Heero watched the footman offer a silver tray to Wufei, who declined the course—_out of spite_, Heero thought to himself. At the Chinese man's side, Duo picked at the slice of bird on his plate, eyes wide marveling at the amount of food he had been offered, and would be offered if the small, scripted menu card was anything to go by. Thus far they had been offered, for a starter:_ Oeufs de caille en aspic et caviar_, a choice of two soups,_ Potage St-Germaine _or_ Consommé _Madrilene—this one clear and simple and Wufei's choice, followed by _Canard Braise Aux Olives_ served with potato _croquettes_._ Tournedos aux morilles_ followed the duck, after which everyone took a rest and cleansed the palate with Punch Rosé.

Next, they tucked into Cailles aux cerises, the little quails swimming in cherry and brandy sauce. According to the menu card there were three more courses yet to come: Asperges printanieres with hollandaise; Macedoine de fruits and Moules à la Marinière. Conversation was minimal and as dry as the wine. As each course was accompanied by a superb wine Heero did not know which would fail first, his bladder, his liver, or his stomach.

"So you run freight up and down the river?" Quatre asked politely.

Heero swallowed his bite. "Yes."

"I know hundreds travel upon our Rogue River a year."

"As we all know," Wufei cut in, "as the Sanc Kingdom continues its great expansion to the West, it depends on the waterways for transportation for the people, goods and information. The rivers provide the only practical means of transporting supplies and commerce from coastal settlements into the interior settlements. Unfortunately, river traffic is limited to slow routes. Flatboat and keelboat journeys require a considerable amount of time to travel the rivers."

"Well, they're better than trapper canoes," Duo said. "Better than crappy rafts some use."

"Not much," Wufei said.

Heero set his fork on his plate. "Flatboats carry larger loads than the canoe, and they are more solidly built than rafts and have a short, raised side to secure the cargo. Canoes are only practical for one man with a load of furs traversing narrow waterways. And rafts are just worthless."

"Unsafe, too," Duo added. He might have said more but his mouth was full and Heero was signaling him to "shut up."

Wufei tackled the subject with his usual venomous style. "The flatboat was been designated as 'the boat that never comes back.' It is broken up at the end of its journey and the lumber used for building houses, furniture, even chicken coops, I suppose. The crew must then either walk or ride a horse back."

"The older designs, but not the ones running now," Heero said. He wasn't interested in starting a heated argument, but he wasn't about to let the incorrectly informed "teacher" criticize his livelihood.

"I think it's time for brandy," Quatre announced as much to his guests as to his servants.

When the last course had been cleared away, largely uneaten, the four men retired to the wood-paneled library for brandy. The room was laid out in the manner of a Sanc gentleman's club: oak-paneled walls hung with stirring prints of sea battles and ships. The main room was carpeted with a deep blue rug, framed in a wide, wine colored border and furnished with comfortable red sofas, and balanced with blue upholstered, rosewood Empire-style chairs and overstuffed armchairs upholstered in shades of light green, red and gold. Over the fireplace hung an oil portrait of the Duke Dermail, reigning over the hearth as he did the entire Sanc kingdom, including Sublimity and his palace in Serenity. Recessed into the wall to the left of the portrait was a large alcove containing the bar. Large open windows provided access to an enclosed private garden.

Quatre settled into a high-back, needlepoint upholstered chair, a snifter of brandy in his hand. Wufei had settled on a leather sofa against the far wall with his glass, while Duo had chosen a most uncomfortable over-stuffed chair flanking the fireplace, doing more swirling of his drink than tasting. Heero refused a brandy and a chair, preferring to stand where he could watch everyone.

"I think I shall be candid," Quatre began. "Even though I haven't known Heero well or Duo long, I sense that I can trust you all. For the benefit of Duo, I'll like to begin with saying that I am a homosexual. I live with this in secret, but not in shame."

Duo set his glass on a side table. "No shit?"

"That's right," Quatre said calmly. "I put this out there to get the ball rolling. I want us to all be good friends. I think we should start with honesty."

"It can get you killed," Duo said. "'Course, maybe you can buy safety. Something like that leaks out on the loading dock and a guy like…well… a guy could find himself floating on the river face down, if you get my drift?"

Quatre smiled. "Yes, I do. But you don't mind?"

"Me? About you? Ah, no. Not a bit."

Heero was surprised when Chang spoke up. "I prefer the company of men. Women are weak, demanding, and mostly in the way."

"As you can tell," Quatre said, "my friend here is very understanding and extremely discrete."

"You're lovers?!" Duo blurted out.

Wufei's eyes flashed in alarm. "Absolutely not!"

"Wufei, why not tell Duo and Heero about yourself?" Quatre suggested.

Wufei drew himself up to his full, and limited, height and smoothed his shirt. "I live at Marble Manor and run the school. There's just the one. Mornings for the youngest, afternoons for the advanced."

"We should go by there. I should show you around," said Quatre. "It's quite lovely."

"It can't possibly be 'lovely', Quat," Duo said.

"Not the school. He meant Marble Manor," Wufei snapped.

"I know," Duo said. Heero could only imagine he said that to irritate the proud Chang. "So, you're a teacher?"

"I'm a scholar and writer."

"Ohhhh. You write stories?"

"Some. I also write essays on research I'm not going to discuss with you."

"Oh, okay. Can I read one of your books, then?" Duo was pushing.

"They are not for everybody. My stories are intricately interwoven and thematic."

"Wufei," Quatre stepped in before things got nasty, "don't be so supercilious. Your pulled-back hair is wound far more tightly than your stories' plots."

Heero thought that Duo would laugh himself into asphyxiation.

End chapter four


	5. Chapter 5

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Five**

**Heero POV**

* * *

The antics of the others provided Heero with ample entertainment. Wufei's snobbery and short fuse were set off by Duo's lack of respect and crude charm. Quatre surprised him with his kindness and compassionate intelligence as he adeptly steered the conversation onto safer topics before Duo's teasing pushed Wufei too far; he also kept the liquor flowing. 

Duo had monopolized most the conversation up to that point. "I say that having any kind of a friend's better'n having one's ass in a sling… and for another thing-- I do not lie, remember that."

"Can't you speak in a normal tone of voice?" Wufei asked. "We all have excellent hearing.

"'Fei, you are such a _kvetch_, know that?"

"Oh, stop with the _lingua franca_, would you?" Wufei drawled. He looked where his own empty glass rested, shifted his eyes to stare at the untouched brandy an arm's length away, Heero's, reached, snapped it up, and drained four ounces of Sanc's finest in one fiery gulp. It was his third.

Duo arrested the delivery of the brandy snifter to his lips, the golden liquor slopping dangerously close to overflowing the brim. "Huh?"

"He means," Heero translated, "tone down urban the lingo."

"It is a little _outré'_." Quatre bent over his brandy and hid is smile.

"_Outre?_ Winner, he's goes far beyond the limits of--"

"'Fei, you are such a _menche._"

"_Fiat Justitia_, which for the under-educated means," Wufei poured another couple fingers of brandy into his glass, "Let justice be done."

"L'chaim!" Duo offered as a toast, and then he and Wufei tossed back the remainder of the brandy.

"This conversation has deteriorated. What we need is an after dinner walk," Quatre announced.

"Fine with me," Duo agreed.

"Before it's dark, I'd like to see the improvements Heero and Duo have made to the cabin," Quatre said.

Heero was already standing. Wufei impressed him by how well he could stand and walk after consuming so much alcohol. He told him so.

"I had no wine at dinner," Wufei said with a sly smile, "so I am quite sober."

He would have been more convincing if he hadn't swayed, but Heero didn't argue and led the way outside.

"The goats," Duo reminded Heero. "We oughta take'em home. I'll go fetch'em."

He was about to take off in the wrong direction, when Quatre grabbed Duo's coat sleeve. "Wait up. Why not leave the goats here? Todd can care for them more easily since he lives on the property. There are other animals to keep them company and a safe barn for lodging."

"Thank you," Heero said, relieved to be rid of the animals.

"Yeah, that's really nice of ya, Quat, but yuh see, Ruggles is kinda attached to them."

"Ack!" Heero nearly strangled Duo at that moment. "Then the dog can stay, too. Duo, this is perfect and very generous. You were concerned about wild animals attacking the goats. They'll be safe here."

And in case logic didn't move Duo, Heero imbued his blue glare with hopeful pleading, and it worked. Duo kind of melted, or at least his resolve did. "Okay, goats stay. It'll be better all around. You'll tell Todd about the change?"

"Yes, in the morning," Quatre said. "You can collect everything on your way to the market on Saturday. I'd join you, but I have a standing appointment that takes me out of town."

"You're a hellava stellar, class act, Quat-man," Duo said. He wavered on his feet unsure of which direction was home.

"Thank you, Duo." Quatre's arm snaked around Duo's waist to steer him on the right path, and Duo looked triumphantly over his shoulder at Wufei. He got a blistered glance in return.

"I thought so," Heero heard Chang mutter as he, too, passed him up.

_Did Chang think Quatre and Duo were forming an "attachment"_, Heero wondered.

Quatre continued chatting as they led the way off the slate walkway to a rougher gravel one, although just as even-surfaced. Heero didn't like Quatre's arm still holding Duo, but he couldn't say anything. Duo wasn't "his" and the arm was connected to the land's richest guy and a good soul who had opened his home to them. So, he just watched as Duo reciprocated with a friendly arm over Quatre's shoulders. Heero fervently wished that he could be as casual and drape an arm about Duo that way. _Why shouldn't he?_ He was living with the man, closer than Winner—_why not?_

He knew the answer, though. He was waiting, probably stupidly and he knew that too, for Duo to make the first move that suggested theirs was something more than a deep friendship. _Well, that was, apparently, a dim-witted thing to do._

Still, he didn't know what moves he should make and not jeopardize their special camaraderie with too intimate a gesture. He wasn't even sure what intimate gesture Duo would like or even permit, if any! _Well, Winner seems to know what's all right! _

He could see that Duo liked the contact from Quatre, which was to be expected, if... Duo was homosexual-- maybe. Or... Duo was touchy-feelly type, except around him. Heero didn't like that conclusion. He decided he should be open and tell Duo how he felt about him, _but could he do that? Who was he trying to convince? The last person he had opened up to was Relena, and she never spoke to him again! Not… yet._

Heero moaned at his ineptitude. He had never before sought out personal contact. Or even thought he wanted it. Until now. And now he lacked the words, the timing, and to be honest the courage to say anything. Even testing the words out in his own head made him cringe._ Oh, by the way, since Winner brought it up and all, I'm attracted to men- you in particular. Is that all right with you?_

His mouth dried as his spit and will power were wicked away by his fear and the summer heat. _There just had to be a better way,_ he decided. Heero kept to the rear guard position, ever mindful of ruffians and thieves prowling the forested avenues, even in the still-light summer evenings, and pondered the situation. They followed the winding path past a line of hawthorns just out of flower and into a glade of maple trees newly leafed out in fresh bright greens. The carefully manicured path deteriorated into a narrow trail down through the back property, a mixed forest of hardwoods and fur trees. Heero felt a wave of relief roll over him when the other two young men had to part and walk single file.

"I haven't gone this way since I was a little boy," Quatre told them. "I wasn't sure if it was overgrown and gone."

"Where does this end up?" Heero asked.

"Boathouse, right?" Duo asked. "I got a good sense of direction, plus I've seen a couple worn paths around there."

"A couple? I only knew of the one. Are you sure it isn't a deer path?"

Duo shrugged. "I'm no tracker, but it looks like human foot prints."

Quatre smiled. "I'm sure it's just the games keeper then, tracking poachers or wildcats."

Heero thought back to the "creature" he'd **not** chased out of Duo's orchard. It had fled into the forest back of the cabin. Heero decided to go hunting soon before the animal started hunting one of them.

In another moment, the cabin was sighted. In light of the grandness of the Winner Watergardens estate, the tiny fishing hut looked shabbier than ever. Still, when they reached the front porch, Quatre applauded the color choices, his, and admired the repair work.

"Heero's great at repair and you chose the paint, Quat, so no wonder you like it!" Duo said with a laugh.

Quatre and Heero ended up in the pantry where Heero proved all the pests were gone. "There were mice everywhere," Quatre said with a shiver. "I can't believe how much nicer the place is now. You've done a wonderful job fixing it up."

Wufei followed Duo into the house, counting the rooms, and examining the interior carefully. "Small. If two people enjoyed living out of each other's pockets, it would be a pleasant arrangement-- and with the right companion, the right woman, if you are so drawn. Wonderfully cozy."

"Guess so," Duo said, stringing out the sound, Heero thought, to buy him thinking time.

"But you are sharing this with Yuy."

"That's right."

"You say you don't lie, so tell me the truth."

Heero could hear the belligerence, could feel the Chang's eyes boring into Duo even though the two men were at the door to the bedroom and he and Quatre were in the kitchen. Those eyes reminded him of the shiny button eyes on a teddy bear he'd once found—a sad memory. His thoughts were torn back to the present by Chang's next question.

"Are you attracted to men?"

The question stopped him cold. He hadn't expected him to make a direct attack, especially since Chang was such a women-hater or possibly, Heero believed, partial to men over women himself. Duo's answer was oblique and defensive.

"I like all kinds of people. I like animals, too. What'sit to you?"

"I like to know what kind of men Winner's befriending. Gold diggers abound. So, are you homosexual and making a play for Winner or--?"

"Man, am I crazy, or did you just insult me with a very personal question?"

Wufei tipped his chin up. "Which question do you want me to answer first?"

Heero made a move to contain the fight he imagined about to begin, but Quatre stopped him. "I think they are getting along splendidly," Quatre whispered to Heero from the kitchen. "Wufei can be a little prickly."

_Like barbed wire around a post,_ Heero thought, but said nothing because wanted to hear Duo's answer to Wufei's question. He craned his neck and just grunted, "Hn."

"Don't worry. Wufei is over-protective," Winner told Heero. "He won't try to damage anyone's reputation."

"Hn." Heero leaned further towards the opening to the front room.

"So you're a teacher _and _a comedian," he heard Duo say, chuckling.

"I'm a scholar, forced to do…penance in this…backwash country," Wufei said defensively. "But this isn't about me. I'm asking about you."

"Oooh, whatcha do? Leave a pretty little thing in the lurch?"

"Just the opposite."

"You knocked up some rich old hag?"

"Of course not! You are deliberately missing the point. I was only fourteen at the time and… uninterested. And… Meiran was quite pretty and stronger than most women. Most are weak, stupid, manipulative, and marrying one is pointless."

"Fourteen? That is young to have your ass in a crack. Still, outcasting you for that seems a bit stiff."

"I said it was a penance; I was not 'outcasted.' I can go back, someday. Under different circumstances."

"Like marrying the girl of their dreams. That's harsh, man. 'Course there's no telling what the future may bring, right?"

"In a manner of speaking, there is."

"Oh, yeah? _Any_ way you say that sounds _meshuga_."

"Perhaps we should ask Mr. Winner to tell you your fortune?" Wufei said.

"Huh?" Duo could hardly wait.

"You know he's clairvoyant. A seventh sense he says he has."

"Seven? Not even six are enough for Quatre Winner? Heh, heh, heh… I'll bet he can fly off roofs, too."

"Don't be stupid. Being clairvoyant has nothing to do with flying and everything to do about perceiving things beyond the range of normal people."

"So does flying off roofs," Duo maintained and skipped off to join the others. "But I'm not the one 'half a bubble off plumb' here," he chortled, leaving Wufei to parse that.

"I know Wufei comes off sounding a bit misogynistic," Quatre told Heero. "He actually does have a woman friend."

"Just a bit? I'm sure he has his reasons." Heero thought back to Relena and how she'd abandoned him when he most needed a friend. He could identify with any number of grounds for Chang's disinterest and distrust in women.

"He's all right. You'll see as you get to know him."

"Like you," Heero said.

"Me? You think I'm all right? That's gratifying and refreshing. I've been curious about you for a long time. I was too afraid to approach you."

"I'm approachable."

Quatre laughed. "So is a cougar, I'm told, but that doesn't mean I'm going to offer one my hand to gnaw on."

The corner of Heero's mouth twitched and he sniffed. "I don't bite."

"Then that gun you carry at all times is just for decoration?"

Heero drew in a stiff breath of air and felt the tension in his shoulders pull his vest taut across his back. _When had Winner seen that_, he wondered? He kept the gun well hidden. "No."

"Point made, then," Quatre said with a slick smile.

Duo and Wufei joined them in the front room, filling the space. "So we wanna update the outhouse and laundry. I'll show ya."

Wufei listened, paced off the dimensions, and performed a few mental calculations. "What about plumbing? Certainly the kitchen drains into a sewer or septic system."

Duo shrugged. Heero entered the lean-to and examined the laundry tub. "This drains into a pipe, probably the same one. We'll investigate later. Why is it important?"

"The outhouse can be converted to an indoor toilet. I would have to consult some house design books," Wufei said.

"We were thinking of checking out the library in town," Duo said.

"Quatre has a better library than the town." Wufei shot Quatre an inquiring look.

"Yes, I'll gather all the architecture books I can and bring them over," Quatre said.

"No, no, don't bother," Wufei waved him off. "I'll need to study them anyway. We'll go back together tonight. I know what I'm looking for."

There was no way they could dissuade Wufei from pursuing this new cause, not that Heero wanted to lose his valuable expertise. Chang had the mathematics background and schooling to make sense of the plans and scholarly texts. Duo offered their guests coffee, but they politely turned him down. The next day was a working day for them all, and, besides, Wufei wanted to dive into the project immediately. He and Quatre said their goodbyes and left.

When Quatre and Wufei had disappeared down the path, Duo leaned against the door jam and exhaled loudly. "Man."

"Enjoy yourself?"

"Yeah. Ya know what?"

"What?"

"I am so glad we bought those new clothes and bathed before going over there."

Heero agreed, but wasn't sure if he understood the great significance it seemed to have for Duo. "Why?"

"Well, normally I'd go pretty long without a bath."

Heero understood what living on the run or in group camps meant for personal hygiene. "Yeah."

"So when we walked into Quatre's place, you know, he's so clean—'Fei, too. Squeaky. They smelled like flowers and spices!"

Relena wore floral scents, too, Heero remembered. "Rich people wear perfume," he concluded.

"No shit."

"You'd expect them both to be clean. They don't even get their hands dirty at the kind of work they do." Heero reached for Duo's hand before thinking of reasons not to, and turned it over. "This is a hand that knows tools and weight. It might not be groomed and soft, but it's an honest hand."

When he looked up, Duo's violet blues eyes were wide, searching his, and possibly in awe. A tingle of excitement made the hair on his arms stand up. He was rubbing his thumb over a calloused knuckle and couldn't quit. He liked the feel of Duo's warm hand. He liked the feel of it in his. _Maybe I should give him a hug? I__n a minute. _ _When it looks like he might reach for me._

He didn't know how long they stood there, his racing heart not keeping regular time at all and his body frozen in still another time frame, before Duo jerked his hand free. "Ah, guess I'll take my turn outside. You can use the sink." Duo dashed toward the door then stopped. "Would be cool if it were indoors… and heated, too!"

_That was uncomfortable._ Duo was talking bathrooms and he was lusting over his hand. _Why had he done that_? No, he knew why. His need was growing out of his control, but then after taking so long to make contact_, why had he let Duo get away? Idiot._

Heero had started the day thinking Duo was not only his to cultivate, but his for the taking—if Duo was looking for a male lover, which wasn't a done deal from Heero's perspective—and he had all the time in the world to gather the courage to do something, once he figured out what to do. Sure, he had a lot to offer the new, friendless boy in town, but now he wasn't so confident of his merits. Winner had mountains more going for him-- literally a mansion on top of a hill over-looking all of Sublimity. Since Heero had last admired him, Quatre's jaw had strengthened and shoulders broadened giving him a more manly presence. _Who was he kidding_? The guy had money, looks, connections, and – not to forget- a winning personality. Heero wondered why would Duo choose him over Winner, and couldn't come up with a single substantial reason, except that he was sharing a job, roof, and bed with him, and that might prove to be more of a problem than asset if close proximity grated on his nerves.

And Winner wasn't the only competition. When had either Chang Wufei or Quatre winner sought out Heero Yuy's company—ever? _Never!_ Duo hadn't been in town a week and he had had dinner with them both! _Would Chang have offered to look up remodeling plans for__** him**_? Heero didn't think so. Chang represented rivalry from that corner of the town, too. He might be serving a penance now, but the man had his own money, power, and a title, too, as head of his clan.

Heero groaned as he lay back onto the pillows. What had seemed so possible that morning now appeared completely unlikely.

"You okay?" Duo asked as he climbed over Heero to claim his favorite side of the bed.

"Yeah." _Can't you tell?_

"Well, I'm bushed. I didn't think it would be so hard holdin' back my awesome personality for the dinner party, but now I'm flat_ drained." _

Heero smiled slightly. "You'd have thought you were the one putting on the dinner."

"Yeah, like you say. I mean, I had to work my ass off to keep the conversation going and carry all the weight…" Duo hesitated. He twisted over on his side so he could look Heero in the face. It was dark, but Heero could see Duo staring at him. "You meant that sarcastically, didn't you?"

Heero promptly turned away and attempted to stifle his chuckles by rolling over and burying his face in the pillows. "Uh, hn."

"Uh,**huh**, you mean. Okay, so you didn't appreciate my ass-kicking wit, but my point was… ah… it's good to be back home where I can be just plain ole me, the me that ain't got diddly-shit, but you don't have much more, which makes us equals, ya know? Like, I may not know shit from shinola when it comes to fish forks and butter knives, but I can hold my own with what I do for you, right? Right?"

It came without warning. Heero heard the uncertainty in Duo's voice, as if Duo needed to know that Heero needed him and wanted him as a friend and as a partner on the job. Heero thought a moment before he answered, in order not to give away how much he valued Duo's friendship, but he couldn't keep all the warmth from his answer.

"You are exactly what I needed."

He could hear Duo's smile in his voice. "You're a real _mensch_, 'Ro. I'm glad I met you first."

"You met Winner first, actually." His face broke out in an honest smile.

"'Kay, second then, asshole."

"Is that better or worse than a _mensch_?" Heero choked on his erupting laugh.

"Well,_ excuse_ my French."

"Yiddish, I think. _Mensch_ is Yiddish." Heero held back his laugh a moment longer and his trembling sent the mattress to vibrating.

"Yuy, forget what I said and go to sleep."

Heero continued to shake as he lost his fight with his need to laugh. Heero exploded, laughing so hard tears streamed from his eyes. He hadn't laughed so hard in all his life. All the day's stockpiled-anxiety bled from his body. He was hemorrhaging on the edge of hysterics, when he felt a pair of warm arms encircle his shoulders. He sobered instantly. It must have been on impulse; Duo had avoided physical contact with for the most part.

Duo nudged him to see if he was okay. "You busting a gut or something?"

"N-no," he managed to spit out. "Happy." _That's all._

And that really was all. He felt Duo release him as if he were a burning hot coal. "Oh, ah, okay, then. Um, just so you're okay. Happy's okay. Happy's great, actually. Really, really—"

"Duo, shut up."

"Ah, okay."

"Good night, Duo."

"Sure, g'nite, 'Ro."

(o)

Two exhausting work days and dead-to-the-world nights later, Wufei showed up on their porch. "I'm inviting myself over and showing you what I've come up with. I've been studying house plans."

"Looks like you've lived and breathed plumbing and remodeling," Duo said, pointing out the stack of books and diagrams Wufei carted over.

"Where's Yuy?" Wufei asked without answering.

"Just step inside," Duo said with dramatic flourish. "He's slaving over dinner."

"Chang?" Heero stirred the rice once as bubbles formed on the surface. "Hand me the lid."

Wufei passed him the heavy top for the cast iron pot, and Heero pushed the rice pot to a spot on the grate where it could steam slowly. Heero thanked him and dove into the drawings with a murmured, "This was unexpected."

The three of them redesigned the "bathhouse, laundry, and WC" facilities according to the excellent plans Wufei had discovered, while Heero proceeded to prepare a vegetable stir-fry meal over the lot coals. This process fascinated Wufei, and when Heero declared the dish "done", Wufei gladly accepted a bowl of rice and vegetables.

"I haven't had anything like this in…ages." He drank in the steamy fragrance like a man starved for his culture.

"Nearly a year," Heero said. "You've been here a year and—"

"I know the date," Wufei snapped.

He wasn't particularly easy to warm up to, on the other hand, Wufei turned out to be clever with designs with a good grasp of the math to alter the plans to fit the usage. "Proper drainage away from the house is critical," Wufei pointed out.

Duo was all for digging up thee existing pipes to discover where they led. "We'll get to that," Wufei told him, "for confirmation, but I believe I'm correct with my determination that the kitchen and laundry tubs drain into the same lines as those from the Watergardens. With my knowledge of the public records office, I was discovered where they ran and how to access them."

"Does that mean the outhouse is as good as gone?" Duo asked, grinning.

"Yes and a new modern water closet will replace it." Wufei smiled. "I recommend adding another room for guests while expanding the laundry facilities and tying it all together with the new bathroom under one roof."

"Won't that be too pricey?" Duo asked.

"Not after I talk to Winner," Wufei said. "He understands a good investment when it's explained to him."

"What's this?" Heero poked at a folded scrap of paper.

Duo opened it. "Oh, a note from Hilde. Musta fallen out of my pocket." There was another note inside that. "Ho! Howard broke down and…I didn't think he could write."

"Howard is the leader of the Sweepers, ah... salvagers in Serendipity," he explained to Wufei. "Whoa, baby."

"Trouble?" Heero asked.

"River pirates are back. Howard doesn't need that on top of the other bad times."

"When people stand up to brigands," Wufei put in, "the problem is driven away."

Heero grunted. "Hn."

"Sweepers are armed, but no one wants to risk getting killed for a few scraps of metal," Duo said.

"You must outsmart them." Wufei stood. "Winner has expertise in dealing with all manner of crooks. I recommend you bring this problem up with him. Now, I must go. Thank you for the delicious meal, Yuy."

When they offered to walk him part way back to his home above the school, he rejected them outright. "I can find my own way home, thank you," he said abruptly and marched away.

Heero thought Wufei was lonely. Duo was sure he suffering from an unrequited love, but wouldn't explain why he was an expert in recognizing that. "I think he likes us, but is afraid to be friends," Duo mused.

"Yes, if we turn out to be the wrong sort, we would become a source of embarrassment to him."

"We're river rats. How's that the wrong sort?"

"Ones with a past."

"Who hasn't got a past they wanna forget?"

"I don't know," Heero admitted. _Not even Winner._

(o)

And so, a pattern of life developed that summer. Weekdays, Heero and Duo worked the river, hauling beer kegs, scrap metal, grain for milling, and other goods the towns along their route required. Any day might bring a note or letter for Duo, but never any mail for Heero. Heero patrolled the property each night, shooting once at a large dog, which never again returned, and taking down a sick raccoon. Wufei taught the school children of Sublimity their letters, and Quatre managed his family's businesses.

Saturday was market day, and Heero, Duo, and Ruggles always visited the market vendors for supplies, collecting the goats and cart from the Watergardens along the way. They often ran into Wufei in the market and picnicked together. Sometimes, the afternoon and evening found the three of them building the "bathhouse, laundry, and WC" facilities, bringing in experts from town when needed, like for the plumbing.

There was only one Saturday Heero recalled with any clarity, and that was because he needed to. Heero remembered Duo's hands fondling a chestnut silk shirt in the marketplace and how he thought it was the color of his hair. _Buy it. _Duo hadn't even checked the price, but moved on to a fine blue-violet one in the next stall, which matched Duo's eyes. _Buy that one, too. _Ever money conscious, Duo purchased nothing they couldn't eat that afternoon, but Heero made a note to himself to buy them himself and surprise Duo with a present, when they could afford the extravagance. Fall, sometime.

"When is your birthday?" Heero asked as casual-sounding as possible.

Duo shrugged. "Dunno. Orphaned too young. You?"

Heero matched his shrug with one of his own. "Odin celebrated mine to remember the day he found me. He, ah, wasn't my birth father. I don't know if I made that clear before. Um, anyway, in fall. Want to, ah, share it?"

When Heero could once again look him in the eye, Duo smiled with his head cocked to the side as if he knew Heero was fabricating part of his story. "Like the house? I don't think it works that way, but we can celebrate at the same time. I'd like that."

Heero made another mental note that day not to forget to make up a birthday for the two of them. It would be interesting, never actually having celebrated one at all. He'd made that part up. Winner would have a few ideas what to do, he hoped, and he also hoped Duo would forgive him for the white lie, if he ever discovered it.

In the meantime, Todd had deposited a cat on their doorstep, a black tom with an excellent hunting instinct and torn ears shaped like horns, giving him a diabolical look. His name was appropriately Lucifer, and he wasn't friendly to them or to Ruggles, but at least he earned his keep, and importantly, _he_ wasn't a _she_. After Lucifer's arrival, Duo and Heero were greeted most mornings by at least one tail, mouse, shrew, or lizard, on the porch steps as proof of his skill.

Sunday continued to be their standing dinner date with Quatre. What bothered Heero was that he and Duo had lost that special closeness they'd shared that first night in the hot tub. Not completely lost it, but he was no longer the-new-guy-in-town's exclusive friend, but one of three or four, five counting Todd. That was when Heero determined he had been vacillating long enough. If he wanted Duo for a lover and companion, he would have to summon his courage and act. Soon. Before summer had gone and fall brought the end to Duo's time in Sublimity, or he'd fallen for Winner or Chang.

"Hey, wouldya lookit this," Duo called out one morning. "Lucifer caught a 'possum, or something big, from the size of this tail."

Heero tied his pants and yanked on his shirt, last to dress that morning. "Tail?" He examined the long string. "That's leather cording, not a tail."

"Like lacing?"

"Yeah, old one, though."

"Wonder where he found that?"

"Who knows. One of the fishermen probably lost it years ago."

"But wouldn't it be rotted up more?"

Heero didn't know. "Are you ready to tackle the laundry? We don't have much time before we are expected at Winner's for dinner."

"No, but since we kept the goats and cart from yesterday, we might as well haul the crap to Dorothy."

"It saves us money. She can either clean clothes or deliver clothes, but not both at the same time. I'd rather not pay her to do a job I can."

"I'm happy if I never have to wash again. Even when the tub's back in action, I'd rather pay her than waste my afternoons doing the wash."

"I agree, if our money holds up. Now, let's go. Just think how nice the bed will feel tonight with clean sheets."

"Okay. I'm motivated. Got it." Duo rolled their towels and clothes inside the bedding and tied the corners over the top, making a loose bundle.

When they arrived at the laundry-woman's house, it was almost noon. Thankfully, Dorothy was too busy to answer the door, but her husband wasn't. The woman could chat up a storm and Heero had no patience to pretend interest. The man gladly accepted the load, promising that his Dorothy-dear would have the goods clean, dried, and folded by nightfall.

"That'll do. We'll stop by after visiting Quatre."

Dorothy made a face. "That guy! He turned down my best friend when they should have been married. As if Miss Relena could be anything but faultless!"

Her husband closed the door on the rest of her tirade. "Shit, what's her problem?" Duo asked. Heero turned away in an effort to hide his surely blanched complexion, but it was too late. Duo chased him in a circle. "Hey, man, you don't look so hot."

"I'll be... all right," Heero muttered. Duo's searching eyes and the cool palm testing the temperature of his forehead would ordinarialy drive him mad with desire, but Dorothy's words had shocked him. He hadn't expected to be so unnerved by his memories of Relena. "Let's just get to Winner's."

(o)

"We're heading down to Serendipity tomorrow. We'll have to wait to load up, so we'll stay on the boat overnight. If you'd like, Duo, you can look up your Sweeper friends," Heero said at the table.

Heero introduced the topic to Duo at the conclusion of the meal, hoping the gregarious Winner would encourage the meeting. Why Duo was avoiding his past friends, he didn't understand. To his surprise, Wufei provided the nudge.

"Have you mentioned the Sweepers' pirate problem to Winner?" Wufei asked.

"Pirates?" Winner's eyes glittered like sapphires in a pirate hoard. "I hadn't," Heero said.

Duo nudged away a black cat who was targeting his lap for its next sleeping place. "This looks a lot like Lucifer."

"Do you want her?" Quatre asked hopefully, but the cat slipped silently away, perhaps fearing a change in venue to Lucifer's place.

"No." Heero wanted to return to the pirate topic. "River pirates have been robbing Sweeper boats."

"Zechs was complaining the other night about how thieves ransacked his country house. He believed they came ashore, because of the numerous tidal creeks nearby. He was terribly upset," Quatre explained. "Several gangs used to prey on travelers, but Odin Lowe kept them away from this area. Some moved south and others north. Now that he's been gone awhile, they must be emboldened."

"Tumult," Heero said, keeping his voice under control and his eyes level. He wouldn't reveal how hearing Odin's name still affected him. "Further north of that, Devine is a popular harbor for pirates. It's at the border."

"But you say they are in Serendipity? That is bad news."

Duo spoke up. "So far they're just fuckin' up trade and leaving the smaller boats alone. That's the first I've heard of any going a'shore. Who's Zechs?"

"We have thieves in the businesses I engage in," Quatre said. "They may dress well and conceal their true nature, but they are criminals at heart." He sat forward, placing his hands on the table and folded them as if he was leading a business meeting right then and there. "Zechs Merquise the war hero? You must have heard of him. He is the half-brother to Relena Darlian, princess of the Kingdom of Sanc—"

"Yeah, yeah… I know who ya mean now," Duo said.

"So, to defeat the river pirates, you need—"

"'Ro and I are gonna go bung'em out," Duo announced.

"And I'm sure tactically, you are the experts," Quatre said ever the diplomat. "What I can deliver, is a strategic plan that won't fail."

"Hn," Heero grunted in disbelief.

"First, we need the latest map of the area, and then I need to know everything you know."

While Duo continued to jabber, trying to convince Quatre that he and Heero didn't need any help, Wufei returned from Winner's library with maps. One was selected and they bent over the table examining the Rogue River in detail. Quatre jabbed the paper with a neatly manicured finger. "If we assume they find harborage on the other side of these cliffs, then we need to lure them out."

"A shitload of gold would lure the dead from the river bottom," Duo said, misquoting an old folk song.

"I have gold," Quatre said. "Now, I must start some rumors."

"I was just kiddin', Quat," Duo piped up.

"We haven't weapons to resist an attack," Heero said.

"I have," Quatre said.

Duo, now gung-ho to get started, nearly chortled with glee. "No, shit! I'll need guns. I'll I got is my knife and I haven't had my guns inna year!"

"Come this way. I could stock a fair sized army!" Quatre thought this was funny and laughed.

An hour later, with borrowed guns and ammunition, a plan, and a promise to send word out that Winner's company was about to make a large purchase, and paying with gold bullion, the friends parted.

"Just leave the goats," Quatre told them. "I'll have the carriage take Wufei home, and then it can take you around to collect your laundry and drop you off. No arguments! You have a difficult day tomorrow, let me help."

The steel in his voice told them he wasn't a man to be denied, and suddenly, Quatre Winner didn't seem to be such a pussy-cat any more.

End chapter five.


	6. Chapter 6

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Six**

Duo POV (to start)

* * *

No birdsong graced his ears or rays of sunshine warmed his face this morning. Instead, he felt coated in sweat from the humidity and heard the sound of the fir trees sighing in the wind. 

Duo languished in bed a moment longer, wishing the night to return and with it his time with the boy in the dream; at least, the part where he was holding his dream-Heero and kissing him. Enfolded in that smooth golden-hued shin beneath rippling muscles with firm, resilient lips pressed to his as hips drove forward, insistent and demanding more—_God, yes, yes, yes!_

His arm swept experimentally across the bed, only to discover the imaginary boy was just that, and that the real Heero Yuy was already up and doing something meaningful, most likely. One of these days he was going to blow it big time and act on his feelings in his sleep—by accident. And then he'd die with a well-placed bullet hole right between the eyes from the gun Heero kept near to his heart at all times. _Saved again._

His look out the window revealed an overcast day, which meant it would likely be raining and miserable on the river. His heart sank where he figured it would remain for the rest of the trip, maybe indefinitely, maybe forever, maybe get digested by his stomach and thus Duo Maxwell would die by stomach attack!

Damn! They were going to Serendipity where they would encounter Hilde and Howard and the rest of his old "chums". Heero would find out how much of a misfit he'd been there. Hilde wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut, even though he'd written to her over and over pressing the need to "clam up!" No, she would tell Heero to watch out for Duo—or something equally embarrassing. His worry over how Heero would feel about him overshadowed all the concerns he should have had over executing Quatre's "bait and trap the pirates" plan.

_Suck it up, Maxwell_, he told himself, and get outta bed!

Heero hadn't so much as looked him in the eyes for days. There had been a time, Duo recalled fondly, that the guy hadn't been able to keep his hands off his hair and now, _nada_. If Heero had been interested in him, it had dried up about the time Wufei Chang started hanging around them. _Why now? The bastard had all year since he'd moved here to run into Heero and woo him. Why now?_

Duo squelched the jealous feelings struggling to take over his mind with a firm fist to the mattress. Pound, pound, pound Chang's smug mug into the mattress. It didn't help, though. His pompous face stared back at him from the ruined sheets.

Heero and Wufei both shared that Asian penchant for wearing inscrutable masks, making it difficult to tell what they were thinking _at will_. Of course, what was better than Heero's eyes checking him out from under his bangs when he didn't think Duo was paying attention? Answer: that tiny smile that said, "You're the man, Duo, and I like you." _Yeah, Heero and him were tight, as friends._

It was very clear, however, that Wufei certainly didn't like _him_, Duo. That meant Wufei was coming to their cabin, helping with the remodeling, in order to attract Heero. They were head to head working almost every evening on that damned addition. It wasn't Duo's fault that he wasn't so handy with woodworking tools! He was a whiz with metal! And gears! And all things mechanical! Except that Heero was good with wood. And…Wufei, _naturally_, was, too.

He'd been okay with the plumbing, but that was all done now. No, things weren't looking too good, Duo thought, which meant maybe he should try some last ditch attempt to own up to his own feelings and tell Heero how he felt. _Before it was too late_.

And at that point Duo realized that he was out of his league. Laying in bed with the air they breathed separating them seemed like the ideal time tell Heero how he had the hots for him. But he hadn't yet. He had never tried romancing another guy—or girl for that matter. Oh, sure, there was Solo. That went swell! Telling his first crush that he'd give him a blowjob was a failure in so many ways. His budding romance with Solo had blown up in his face big time. Being direct was not good, but neither was too much subtlety. _Man, he'd been so crafty he'd built a bridge from Wufei to Heero_.

He dressed wondering where Heero had gone to.He wandered about the quiet house. _What Heero was up to?_ When he couldn't find boy or dog he just shouted, "Ruggles, where's Heero?"

The call returned him a "Yip!" from out-of-doors. Duo skipped across the narrow boardwalk over the dugout corner of the new addition. The foundation would be poured as soon as the weather and work schedules permitted. then maybe the building could get done and Wufei wouldn't have any excuse to hang around. _And that couldn't be soon enough._

When the old tub room had been dismantled, Duo recalled, he and Heero invited both Wufei and Quatre to join them in a rustic river swim and soak. A lovely soak under the stars.

Quatre had politely refused. "I'm sensitive to something in the river water," he explained. "It makes my skin break out."

Wufei had muttered rapid-fire with a generous blend of Chinese thrown in, "…exposed… lack of privacy… shameless… ," paused to catch his breath, and then had added, "but when it's all done, I'll consider initiating the final result."

Duo and Heero ended up skipping that last soak in light of the "shamelessness" of it, and now Duo missed those bonding times with Heero more than anything. Nothing had replaced it and there was a humiliation-in-the-making to look forward to, because meeting the Sweepers would mean that for Duo, sure as hell was waiting to swallow him up when his time came. He sighed. There was Heero in the garden.

"Hey, 'Ro? Why'dya let me sleep so long? Don't we gotta lot to do?"

"Yeah." Heero straightened from his dirt plot, hoe in hand. "Weeding while I can. It will be too wet later."

"Yeah, looks like rain, fer sure. Oh!" Duo noticed the rows and rows of tiny green leaves and slender plants emerging from the dark soil. "That was quick."

"It's good, rich soil here," Heero said. "I'm almost done. Our haversacks are by the door. I left the food for you to pack."

"On it!" Duo chirped spinning on a heel and dashing for the door in order to avoid being put to work grubbing in the dirt.

He and the earth had no mutual love or history he needed to reinforce. He was happy that Heero had he found a rewarding hobby hobnobbing with the worms, but Duo Maxwell was definitively ill-suited to gardening. He was good for what? _Housework._

Duo wrinkled his nose in distaste, but he swept the floor and tidied the clothes in the bedroom. Lucifer was undisturbed by the proceedings. He slumbered away onto his camouflage of rags by the fireplace, only partly roused when the broom swiped the floor near his nose. The kitchen was nothing more than a sink and work area connecting the living room to the pantry, but Duo cleaned and cleared as he packed food for a couple days away. And he had Lucifer and Ruggles to feed. He set out enough for two days, knowing Todd would stop by if for some reason they didn't return by then.

Fifteen minutes later, Duo and Heero were on their way to the Watergardens estate to collect the faux gold bullion. Heero had been quieter than usual, and it bothered Duo to no end, so he blathered for the both of them. He pointed out: birds--"robins," Heero told him; flowers-- "larkspur, columbine… lilies"; and twists and turns in the road that Heero tirelessly told him "have been there on all our previous trips."

When the estate was in sight, Duo began to get to the point. "Look, I know you think I'm nuts, being so nervous about seeing the ole gang and all, but, well—"

"If is about me," Heero cut in, "don't think you have to introduce me."

"No, it's not that, it's, well, I dunno. It's just that they might say stuff about me that's not really true but makes me look kinda dumb." And worse. "Hey, look! It's the Fei-man."

"Chang," Heero greeted him in a stilted, clipped fashion, and fingered his ever-ready gun.

"Yuy,_ Max_well."

"Shouldn't you be _learning_ them little kiddies their letters and numbers?" Duo asked. _This is my time with Heero! Go back to that hole you crawled out from under._

Wufei's stern face darkened further. "As I explained before, summer school is only for make-up work. Primarily, it is for the boys who work at the meatpacker's and who miss class in the busy early winter and spring months. I don't have to offer classes at all, which is why I closed the school for two days, while I accompany you to Serendipity."

"That won't be necessary." _Believe me, it won't. _"No, nada, non, nein!" It was a multicultural denial.

Wufei frosted over Duo's objection. "Yes it is." He touched the sword hanging from an ornamental scabbard at his side. "I am in Winner's employ to guard his cache."

_Well, aren't you important_, Duo thought to himself. Actually, he also thought Wufei looked deadly, and only part of the effect was coming from his blistering dark glare. "Quat hired you to guard his fake gold?"

"Armed guards always accompany his payments. It is expected and I am qualified."

Duo patted his spanking-new, twin-holstered firearms, care of Quatre's fine store room. "Yer kiddin' me Wuuh—"

Duo was looking down the wrong end of a drawn sword before he could finish saying "Wufei", but that wasn't all.

"Don't move," Heero ground out between clenched teeth. His cocked colt 47 revolver pressed harder into Wufei's temple.

"Oh, dear!" another voice called out. "I'm sorry. I didn't inform you about the guard., did I? My company stipulates that payments must be accompanied by adequate protection. Insurance and all."

While Quatre explained his situation, Heero and Wufei slowly lowered their weapons. Wufei sheathed his sword with a flourish, demonstrating his superiority. Heero was far slower. When he felt threatened, his trained reflex was to draw his gun and shoot the source of his danger. He had to fight his twitching trigger finger not to now.

"Good, I'm glad that misunderstanding is past us." Quatre smiled with growing excitement. "I want to show you the tempting bait." Quatre walked them to an open carriage where a crate rested beneath a wool blanket. He lifted the cover and lid to reveal stacks of tissue-wrapped bricks. "Unless you assay a sample, these are indistinguishable from the real thing."

Duo agreed and hefted one. "'Bout as close as I'm ever gonna get to the real thing," he said.

Quatre placed his hand on Duo's arm. "It's not real. Remember that. Don't any of you risk your lives over a box of gold-leafed bricks. Promise me that?"

Wufei nodded brusquely and shouldered his knapsack. Heero grumbled his assent. Duo could tell that Heero hated the uncomfortable discussion in every way possible. "Okay, Quat, ole bud. Listen, the weather's gonna suck big time, so we oughta go pronto."

Wufei, Heero, and Duo hopped aboard the carriage and let the driver drop them and the crate near the dock where Heero's flatboat was moored. Heero clutched at the crate's handle. He intended to heft the immensely heavy crate alone, Duo guessed, and, so, Duo grabbed the other handle and wrestled him for position. They stood there entangled, staring, and willing the other to give in.

Duo would move.

_Soon._

_Any minute now_.

As soon as he could sense what Heero was going to do. "Share the load, buddy."

Heero tugged irritably, but gave way and allowed Duo one side. Even so, it was nearly too heavy for the both of them. The dark cloud which had settled over Heero competed in "ominous-ity" with the ones overhead. Duo thought about saying "sorry", _but for what? Doing his share of the work? _Heero's continued bad mood was getting to Duo, but he wasn't going to wilt in the guy's heated glares. He could play at 'tough" too. They stowed their gear, while Wufei settled on what would be his 'seat'-- the crate of bricks-- holding his own bag between his feet.

"Damn it all!" Duo swatted at the flies that chose his exposed body parts in particular to satisfy their nutritional requirements. "What is it about me that they just can't get enough of?"

"Your sweat is fly bait." Wufei said.

"What I said!" Duo glared at the annoying young man. "My point being: why not you?"

"Cleanliness."

Heero snorted at that. "You smell like citron, not soap."

"And," Wufei conceded without argument, "ointment. An old family recipe." He dragged his bag onto his lap and dug around inside. "The active ingredients don't grow here so I send for them." He held the small jar within Duo's reach. "Flies detest its smell."

Duo snatched the jar and thrust a finger in the cream. He sniffed it and hated it, but not wanting to be paired with the flies, said, "Not bad," and wiped some on the back of his neck.

Wufei suggested a couple other key places and when Duo was done, returned the jar to his satchel resting more securely now on his knees. Duo snatched a peek inside. "You've got a shitload of crap!"

"I have assembled a cornucopia of anodynes and amulets containing the secrets of the ancient Chinese. I go nowhere without it. One never knows."

"Got that straight," Duo agreed, "er…ah, and thanks. Stuff works like a charm." He wanted to ask if he had any aphrodisiacs in his bag of tricks, but on second thought, decided he didn't want to give the guy any ideas.

Duo and Heero took up their punts and launched the boat out toward the river. They maneuvered the nose into the current of the Rogue, and let the steady southern flow carry them on their way. Unfortunately, they were heading into the wind.

(o)

The storm grew in intensity with wind whipping their clothes and the first rain drops stinging their faces before they were halfway to Tumbletown. Heero yanked a pair of waterproof capes and their hats from the boat's cabin while Duo fought the boat away from the shallows. They took turns dressing for the turn in the weather and keeping the boat from running aground. It required the two of them to handle the boat for any length of time, and the wind was getting worse as they tired. Duo didn't feel like conversation, and Heero seemed to be angry at everything.

Wufei had already donned his own raingear and already begun his lecture series on the pirates of Sanc. "Not all infesting rebels and pirates come from the desperate poor," Wufei told them. "Some have included adventurers, according to Governor Treize Khushrenada, who has jailed and put to death many."

"Most deserve whatever they get," Heero said. "They stop a flatboat, beat to death the master of the boat and throw them in the water. Then they plunder the freight and burn the boat so there's no proof. They take the looted merchandise to dishonest storekeepers in various towns who give them half of their worth at best. I shoot to kill any and all thieves."

Duo grunted. "You must be pretty sure of yourself."

_Oh great, __ point that loaded glare at someone_ _else, Heero_! If he hadn't run from Solo, and run fast, and, later, run into Howard and been saved, he might be one of those pirates today, or worse yet, a dead whore. Would he have deserved death for stealing to stay alive?

A crack of lighting overhead startled them out of their conversation. The storm was on them, ruffling the river. It took both Heero and Duo's strength to force the boat into the wind.

"The tiller!" Heero shouted.

Wufei stumbled as he moved, gripping the end of the boat just in time, preventing himself from being cast overboard by a gust of wind. He found solid footing and seized the tiller with white-knuckled determination.

(o)

"I see a light ahead to the right," Wufei shouted.

"Starboard," Duo shouted back.

"That's the mill at Tumbletown," Heero said. "Lamp's a signal they need a pickup. Can you tell if it's hanging on the up or downstream post?"

"South one."

Heero lunged into his pole to slow the boat. "We're going in. Chang, hold the tiller!"

Docking was hard in the rough water, leaving them breathless. Wufei scraped his hand when the tiller snapped back at him unexpectedly and Duo got a rope burn while trying to tie them off.

"I'll check on the shipment," Heero said, then ordered Duo, "You stay with the boat."

_Why me, _Duo wondered? Wufei was going nowhere, his ramrod straight posture reminding Duo of Lucifer guarding his food bowl. He had his sword drawn in the same manner the cat extended his claws. He didn't know what to think of Heero in his authoritative, dominating state of mind. He didn't want to cross him, but he hated being bossed around.

"Yeah, right." Duo climbed onto the wharf intending to follow Heero anyway, when a figure moving stealthily into the shadows caught his eye. He remained poised to jump the man, the moment he made his position clear. _Were the pirates so bold as to attack this soon,_ he wondered?

He heard traces of a wind-ripped conversation between Heero and another man, and then the two appeared, the stranger leading a mule cart of bagged flour beneath a snapping tarp. Duo's eyes slipped back to the shadows, but nothing moved.

"Duo, this is Paul. He's the miller. Paul, this is my partner, Duo Maxwell."

Duo greeted the middle-aged, bearded miller with a smile and handshake, the wind whipping his cape mercilessly.

"I'm glad Heero found a partner. Been worried about him since Mr. Lowe died. You young folk shouldn't work alone. Dangerous on the river." The miller's voice became lost in a rumble of thunder after that.

Duo was eager to get moving. It was all-in-all a bad day. The weather was shit. Heero was in a dark mood. The guy watching them from the shadows gave him the creeps. His back itched with the feel of his braid against skin, where he'd stuffed it out of the way. Being the bait to trap a bunch of pirates had to be better than getting eaten alive here! _If it's not bugs it's something else_, he groused to himself.

Paul helped Heero and Duo haul the bags to the boat and adjust the oilcloth covering. "I'll be right back," Heero said to Duo as he hopped back onto the wharf with the other man.

"Yeah, yeah, stay and guard—huh?" Duo gasped when Wufei's face was inches from his.

Wufei clutched his arm and spoke directly in his ear so his words couldn't carry in the wind. "There's a man over there who has been watching you ever since we arrived."

Duo's eyes followed the imaginary line from Wufei's eyes to the far end of the wharf. Same guy as before, but he'd moved. How had he done that without Duo seeing him?

Duo growled, "On it," and pulled free. "Prob'ly a pirate, or a secret admirer, no doubt," he said, casting a broad smile back over his shoulder. Wufei stepped back alarmed by his crazed grin.

Duo used the rumble of more thunder to cover his sounds and shadows of creates and ropes to disguise his form as he moved unseen. There was a young man untying the rope securing a narrow slip of a boat. Without pause, Duo leaped onto the smaller boat, gun drawn and directed at the other man as the shallow boat racked dangerously. "Hey!"

The figure froze in place. Beneath the wide-brimmed hat dripping water down the back, was a tawny shank of hair and one bright eye. A cigarette burned close to his lips as he spoke through clenched teeth. "Uh, hi?"

Duo relaxed fractionally. "I saw you in Tumult. A gambler." He reached over his shoulder and scratched at the nape of his neck.

"Sometimes." He moved slowly, pinching the cigarette between the fingers of one hand. "A little money on de side. _Bouree'_ is my specialty."

Duo wrestled with the man's accent in his mind, but couldn't place it. The heat under the cape and sweat and bites without ointment and the tickling hair were about to drive him nuts. He yanked at the braid, pulling it free.

The single, visible eye followed Duo's hand as it tried another angle to reach his itch. "Got de mange?"

"Huh? Shit, no!" Duo noticed the man had green eyes and couldn't be any older than him.

"Have you tried herbs? Of course, depends on ware de itch is." His insinuating smile flashed on and off as his green eye roved below Duo's waist area.

That set off Duo big time. "Fuck! No! I ain't got a disease or nothing. Fly bites and my hair's pushed under to stay dry… stuff." He whipped out the last of his braid wiggled it for show, and then tucked it safely between his shirt and cape, where it should have been in the first place.

"Hair--? Oh, de braid. Showy." The young man counted off ingredients on his fingers, "For de bites natives use a balm wit' chamomile, galium, marigold, curly dock root, an' de bark from weepin' ash you could try."

"You a trader with the natives, then?" _Where are you from?_

"Some, once." Trowa dropped his stubby cigarette to the bottom of his boat and ground out the sizzling butt. He adjusted the cuffs of his oilcloth duster and extended one hand. "Name's Trowa," he said. "You plannin' on shootin' me?"

"I'm Duo Maxwell." He held out his free hand and touched palms lightly. "And the answer to that depends on whether or not you come clean. You planning on fucking up our delivery?"

"No." Trowa uncoiled the last of the rope from the anchoring tie, sending the boat to drifting. "I'm not yer enemy, but dey out dere, sure 'nuff. Dey all heard 'bout de gold. Anyway, I'm goin' t'ru now, but, I gotta warnin'—watch yer back up ahead, mon ami, an' dat of de drover wit' de long pole-ing stick."

Duo had to scramble to gain purchase on the dock and heave himself up before the boat moved out from under him. He just made the jump as it was. By the time he looked back, the skiff carrying Trowa had disappeared.

"Damned, creepy, prickass CAJUN!" he shouted into the storm. Yeah, he'd finally placed the accent in the southern swamps. Not that knowing that did any more than give him the satisfaction of having figured it out. _Yeah, but what was a Cajun who traded with the natives doing gambling the river and sticking his nose into other people's business_?

Heero waved his arms, signaling for Duo to return to the boat. "I told you to stay with freight, Duo," he said, exasperated.

Duo apologized, unwilling to fight Heero and the elements. Blinded by lighting, deafened by thunder and the constant racket of the pelting rain was just no fun. He felt a hand on his arm, and Heero's head leaned in close, his eyes furtive.

"I don't like this," Heero said.

"Me or the storm or the being bait?"

"You are… fine," Heero said, his voice catching either with emotion or the effort of shouting over the thunder. "Have you ever killed a man?"

Duo noticed Wufei stiffen. His wary glance towards the other two young men indicted he was listening. Duo wanted to look tough, but he had announced that he wasn't a liar, and he wanted to keep it that way. "No, but I'm a good shot and I've never lost a knife fight."

"Let's hope it doesn't come down to hand-to-hand combat with brigands," Wufei said with an adjustment to his sheathed sword.

"It's all right." Heero nudged Duo gently. "Apple?"

Duo guessed he was attempting to appear in control, but his clipped sentences meant anxiety, Heero-style. When they would get another opportunity to eat again? In a brilliant lightening flash, Duo caught a glimpse of Heero's deep blue eyes, brimming with longing then the vision was lost to the overhanging hat brim. Shaken from that look into his friend's soul, Duo bounded away to the rucksack to search for his composure and the wrinkled apples.

_What was going on in Heero's head,_ he wondered, and not for the first or last time.

(o)

As they progressed down river, Duo wondered how Trowa was faring in his little skiff, but he never caught any sign of him.

"The cliffs!" Wufei shouted. Apparently, he had a natural feel for steering and guided the flatboat cross current with accuracy. "I'm taking us closer, but I see nothing."

They passed Quatre's inlet and cliffs, but no pirates appeared. No boats at all. Traffic was extremely light on the river, but that was common in terrible weather. Heero directed them in a wide, lazy pattern buying time, lying in wait, and tempting the pirates to attack. But the attack never came.

"Winner guessed wrong," Heero said. "We'll head into Serendipity, drop off the flour, and find a place for the night. We'll have a cargo of tobacco and pelts to pick up in the morning then we'll go back to Sublimity."

Duo thought Heero sounded disappointed, but not battling brigands was a good thing, _wasn't it?_

"What was that?" Wufei snapped. His eyes scanned the not-to-distant shore. "There! A man!"

"I'll have to nickname you Eagle-eye Wu—"

"You shall do nothing of the sort!"

"Shut up!" Heero roared over the others and the storm. "Listen!"

"Isn't that that butt-faced, hodaddy by the docks that—"

"Sogran," Heero provided. "Yes, that's him."

"He's calling you by name, Yuy," Wufei pointed out.

"Yeah. Life's a bitch. Let him find his own fucking ride with someone else." Duo held no warm memories of the man and smelled a fellow thief, but this one wasn't a reformed one.

"I must agree (reluctantly) with Maxwell. We should just leave him to his fate and go find a berth for the night."

"He's calling for help. Go closer," Heero said.

"'Ro, the guy's bad. This place, it's givin' off really bad vibes." Duo's eyes darted about, looking for trouble he was certain was in the offing. "Re-eealy bad, 'Ro."

Wufei aimed toward shore. Heero poled forward. "He's never 'hooked up' with pirates, Duo. If we do him this favor we'll have him on our side next time."

"Ah, Jeez, 'Ro. Not a rescue to land? We'll be sittin' ducks!"

As the boat began to pull in, Eagle-eye Wufei spotted men hiding along the shore. "Hold up, Yuy!" Wufei shouted. "Those men, are they holding him or about to ambush us?"

"Fuckitall! Move it!" Duo screamed, plunging his pole into the steel-gray water and throwing his weight into it. "Steer back to the center of the river—NOW!"

Wufei looked to Heero for orders, ignoring Duo. Heero rammed his pole past the surging waves and pushed with all his strength wheeling the boat around to catch the current. "Go!" he yelled back to Wufei, not questioning Duo's decision any longer.

As they escaped the ambush, another boat launched from its hiding place between the cliffs, and closed in on them. The keelboat was larger than Heero's boat, about seventy feet long and built with a pointed nose and stern. The deck was halfway roofed over, and sported a mast for a sail. There was also a rope so that it could be pulled from men on land, hence, the legends of the keelboating men-- heavy drinking, heavy fighting, and "half-alligator, half-horse."

"That's got to be a canal boat from north of Tumult!" Heero said. "No use around here."

"Forget that! This is bad," Duo groaned. "We've been had. They're coming too fast."

He and Heero poled with all their might and Wufei channeled the current's strongest drift. Even against the wind and rain, they raced downstream toward the outer Serendipity docks. Just when Duo thought they were going to make it and beat the other boat to the relative safety, the keelboat raced alongside and they were suddenly boarded by pirates.

(o)

Wufei stood his ground, sword drawn, looking confident and totally not intimidated by the size of the men. Still, Heero didn't know the measure of the man. _Would he shrink at spilling blood?_ The pirates wouldn't, he knew. Heero spun putting his back to the wind and cocking his large colt 47, aimed past Wufei's head, and blew away the nearest man. He kicked the body into the water then moved on the next.

"Get the gold!" cried some faceless bandit. The wind carried the shouts over the keelboat, menace and evil intent intact.

Duo, danced around, edging over to the side. He leaped over the raised edge and onto the keelboat, avoiding his attackers with almost laughable ease. Heero heard guns firing and men falling. He aimed and fired again, using the pole to poke another man overboard. He heard a scream and watched as Wufei amputated a man's hand, collected the firearm from the separated limb, and then fired. The gun looked corroded from neglect and failed on the first try. On the second, Wufei shot him in the head. Heero flinched at the startling brutally.

Over the roar of the wind, Heero heard the shouting of men, Duo included—and then not. _Where was Duo? _Heero glanced around in desperation, terror griping at his heart

A cry of "Gold!" cut through the cacophony of sound over and over.

With a frantic need to locate Duo, Heero cleared his line of sight with his pole, knocking a man senseless and sweeping him to the floor of the boat. He took two steps then jumped, hurdling the raised edge of his boat, and landing on the pirates' craft. Bullets whined past his ear as others returned his fire, while he blasted a path to Duo.

A tall man wrapped an arm around Duo holding a knife to Duo's throat and clutching him to his chest. Greasy blond hair hung in soggy locks that spilled water over Duo's hat. They stood in a puddle of red and Heero found the source. Duo's fist held a blade deep in his captors' thigh and blood mixed with rain ran down the man's leg; his revolvers were gone. Heero aimed to kill. Duo saw him and froze.

_Don't move. _

Duo jerked. The bullet blasted into the man's chest just below the shoulder, nicking the heart muscle. Duo's hat flew into the air as the man began to fall. His grip on Duo's shoulder ripped the cape sideways and freed his braid.

"K-kid? D-Duo?" the pirate uttered in a sputtering gasp. He tracked the wet brown rope, his eyes loosing focus while staring at the braid slithering just out of reach.

Heero plowed forward, Wufei laying down a barrage of gunfire until the revolver ran out of ammunition. He tossed the weapon then backed up Heero with his sword. He batted men away, slicing and stabbing with trained precision, leaving a trail of gore.

A cluster of smaller boats, which had set out from the Serendipity docks, circled the battling boats. One, more slender than the others, pulled out ahead and glided into the shadow of Heero's craft. Trowa secured his craft and climbed aboard, hiding behind the cabin while he studied the scene. He drew a pair of knives from a boot, clenched one between his teeth, and slunk forward.

Heero bashed a man in the face with the butt of his spent revolver then rushed to Duo who was slumped on the wood boat bottom twisting in the arms of his attacker. The pirate held a hunk of Duo's braid, stroking it with a thumb. As Heero fell to his knees and reached for Duo, he was close enough to overhear the man as he spoke.

"Loveya, kid…Shoulda left when yuh did, little bro'. Shoulda…" Blood trickled from the man's mouth and he shuddered. His blood-filled lungs no longer drawing breath, his eyes glazed over, and his body went completely still.

A chill washed over Heero's steaming body as he assimilated what he understood: he just shot and killed Duo's brother! "Oh, God… Duo… Forgive me," Heero croaked.

"Solo's down! Kill them!"

Shouted curses didn't bring Heero out of his shock. A rifle fired and a bullet hit Duo, another pounded into the boat, inches from Heero's hand, and splintering the wood. Wufei's sword rang out and Heero cried out, "Duo! Noooo!"

Duo pressed a hand to his bleeding arm and tried to use the dead body as a shield. The effort was too much, however, and as Heero watched, helpless, the violet eyes rolled backwards and closed. "Duo!"

Trowa dove for Heero, knocking him flat as more bullets strafed the airspace by his head. "You do him no good dead. Stay down. _Boucherie_ (BOOSHREE—butchering) time is excitin', but now is de time to leave dis _Fais Do Do _(fay doe doe-- a party featuring Cajun dancing usually in the street or outside)."

Heero kicked and pushed the stranger off then clamored to his feet. He caught the stranger by the collar of his long coat. "Who are you?"

A sly whip of a smile was his answer, and then a bullet ripped through Trowa's leg, knocking him off his feet.

* * *

End Chapter 6. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Seven**

(Wufei's POV)

* * *

Wufei didn't recognize Trowa at first, but when he took a bullet to his leg and saved Heero from certain death, Wufei decided he wasn't the enemy and challenged the new invaders climbing aboard. 

"Put that away!" shouted an older man with a grizzled beard. "Ci-an't you tell we're Sweepers? You blind, boy?"

Wufei lowered his sword a notch just as another voice shouted close by. As he watched, a figure emerged from the storm in a flash of lightening. It was a woman, about his shoulder height—short, he smiled with satisfaction-- dressed quite like a bandit, in a tattered cape, black tunic and boots, a hand-axe at her side. The scruffy black bangs that fell over her face almost obscured a pointed scar that ran across her forehead down over her left temple. She bore a cunning, determined smile as she greeted them all with a wave, but the girlish-sounding voice startled Wufei more.

"Yo-hai!"

"'Yo-hai!' my ass! Who the heck are you?" Wufei demanded.

She was too busy searching the bodies on the boats to answer. "Howard, over there! The other boat! Looks like Duo's down!"

"Don't turn your back on me!" Wufei shouted. He poked her with his sword for emphasis. "You may think that petty thievery is forgivable, but in the eyes of justice, all injustices are equal!"

"Hey!" she cried. "Don't you lecture me about justice! I chased those monsters all over the place, and just as I was about to finally catch them, you lot hacked them into sashimi! All my hard work gone to shit!" she complained. By this time, the rest of her crew had surrounded them.

"Huh?" Wufei asked.

"Yeah, those were my pirates to beat up! I still have to build my reputation, y'know."

"Are you certain a reputation is what you're after? You're pretty haughty for someone who's the prisoner of Chang Wufei." Even he winced at the sound of his words emanating from his mouth, but there was no taking them back. _What a blowhard! _He raised his chin and swept the air with his sword.

"Yeah, right. Prisoner. Unless you wanna be a Sweepers' captive, and you're pretty good looking so it wouldn't be so bad a deal, if you get my meaning, then shut up and stand aside. Oh, name's Hilde, by the way. Don't forget it!"

Wufei stood, mouth agape, in awe as she gave him a flirtatious wink and hopped from Heero's broad-horn to the keel-boat of the pirates.

The indignity!

The rest of the Sweepers, for that's who they had to be, gave him no second glance. They swarmed the other boat, and the fighting stopped as the remaining, outnumbered pirates threw down their weapons. None of them had escaped uninjured and looked beaten hunched over and examining their bleeding wounds. Heero must have taken out the leader of the ruffians, Wufei surmised, since none of them fought as ropes secured their arms and legs.

The man Hilde had called Howard, announced, "Sheriff Trant's due any minute!" while swinging his wiry arm toward the dock where men and carts lined the end.

Wufei Chang, the proud inheritor of his clan's leadership, if estranged at the moment, absorbed the situation. He had been bested by a girl! Could his pride know no greater shame? A grisly death at the hands of pirates was preferable. A gallant death. A man's death! Again, her strident voice cut through his brain like a sword through butter.

"Gimme space here! Who's that asshole with his grubby hands on Duo?" Hilde kicked men out of her way. "You call yourself his best friend?"

Wufei hadn't heard Heero call himself anything. He hadn't said a word. How had this woman figured that? Then it dawned on him that this must have been the woman friend with whom Duo had been exchanging letters. These were Duo's past work associates!

Wufei lowered his sword, sheathing it carefully.

"You let him get hurt!" she shook a finger accusingly at Heero.

Heero had wrestled Solo's dead weight off Duo and now sat cradling his friend's head in his lap, while examining the wound to his arm. His eyes slid her way fractionally when Hilde shouted in his face.

"Hey, Charm-Fu! Gimme a hand with your shipmate here. He a moron or somethin'?"

Wufei twisted his neck so hard it nearly spun all the way around. His voice quaked with anger. "Chang! My name is Chang, you cursed woman!" As Wufei shouted his voice rose to a shrill pitch.

Wufei leaped to action, hurdling bodies on his way to Heero. Once there, he intentionally turned his back to the impertinent girl and stood over his fallen comrades, seething with hurt pride and alternating his attention between Heero, Duo, and the new, unknown man, who on further inspection was looking more and more familiar. "You were at the dock in Tumbletown."

Trowa's head shot up. He grimaced and nodded. "Yeah," he said then continued to press a handkerchief firmly to his leg to staunch the bleeding. He wound the scarf tightly and tied it off as he tested his weight on the leg.

Wufei watched his eyes widen, his focus intent on something in the distance. He automatically reached for the unsteady man as Trowa tried to stand.

"Dere!" he pointed in desperation toward the shoreline at a small rowboat disappearing into the misty haze. "Don't let dat one get away! Ya hear me? R'at away! Gotta be anudder o'da bandits! Need to move… mo' fas'er!"

Duo groaned and opened his eyes as Hilde fussed over his bleeding arm. "I hear that damned Cajun," he mumbled. "He warned me of trouble. Back in Tumbletown."

Heero leaned over staring into his eyes. "Duo—"

"We got our hands full here, Trowclair, an' you look a mess," Hilde said. "Now, sit down before you fall down and take that dishy swordsman down with you. You know the Sheriff can handle that one." Hilde wrenched Duo's good arm up as she bent over. "You look like you've been worked over by bushwhackers, sweetie pie."

"Took ya long enough," was all Duo could manage.

_Dishy?_ Wufei snorted in disbelief and shoved Trowa onto a crate. "Maxwell, do you mean you were expecting to run into this character?" he asked. When Duo closed his eyes, unable to answer him, he swallowed some pride and endured the woman's harsh glare. He recognized Hilde's existence and turned toward her. "Can you answer my questions? Anyone? Would someone acknowledge me!"

But no one paid him any attention. He appeared to be unscathed and mobile, so his needs were automatically relegated to the bottom of the heap. He was left to wonder on his own. _Had this Trowclair character tracked them here? Why? Had he led the pirates to them? He could be playing both sides, like a gambler._ Wufei didn't trust him.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked, pushing Hilde away from Duo. "I'll take care of him. He needs—"

"Duo needs a doc, and I'm taking him to my place over by the Sweeper's hangout, and a doc."

"You…know him." Heero's glazed eyes cleared. "You must be Hilde."

"That's me. Hilde Schbeiker. You have got to be the Heero Yuy I've heard so much about. You're his, ah, boss? Roomie? Buddy? Whatever. You can bring yer boat to our berth. Far end. Can't miss the sign. Hey, Phil! Gimme a hand here!"

"Tell Phil to help the other man." Heero stood, lifting Duo in his arms, rain washing over him where he covered Duo protectively, and started to leave.

Wufei stopped him. "You can't leave your boat."

"Chang… I'm not. I'll be the one to put Duo on board one of their boats, though. Just stay there."

"There's another man here in need of immediate medical attention," Wufei shouted.

He needn't have bothered, though. Another Sweeper appeared out of the gloom and half-carried Trowa-Trowclair to one of the small craft. Trowa appeared reluctant to leave his boat unattended, but Wufei wanted him in his sights until he knew what the man's role had been.

"I'll see to it that your boat stays with Yuy," Wufei promised Trowa. "It's tied. We'll tow it." _You aren't going anywhere until I have some answers._

The sheriff's men loaded the pirates' craft with the captured men and steered over to the wharf, where they were loaded onto waiting carts. Howard negotiated with the sheriff for the keelboat, and won, Wufei assumed, since he counted three Sweepers take over poles and tiller and edge the boat away from the wharf. The older man-- the leader, perhaps-- Howard hopped onto the remaining Sweeper's boat and hailed Heero.

"Bring your boat around. Follow me."

"I have a load from the miller to take care of first," Heero shouted. "I'll find you. You have some firearms of ours on that pirate boat."

Howard waved in acknowledgment, hopefully having heard and understood him, and then moved on downstream. Heero put his pole to work and Wufei returned to the tiller. He was impressed with Heero's fortitude and conscientiousness. He had to be exhausted, but he loyally took care of business first. Still, it was obvious to Wufei that Heero cared deeply for his partner. He recognized those adoring glances for what they really were.

The docks were nearly empty of boats. None had yet arrived, preferring to wait out the storm elsewhere. One or two flatboats, which had probably been there the day before, bumped in their berths, the owners most likely waiting out the worst of the weather from the comfort of a saloon. Wufei wondered what motivation Heero used to convince the wagon master to leave his warm bar seat and drag his horse out into the elements. Neither one looked at all happy to be there.

Without a word, Wufei gave Heero a hand, taking Duo's place, and unloaded the bags of flour from the boat. Only a couple bags had been damaged, lying flat, riddled with bullets, and had spilled their contents over the boat's bottom as they were moved. Another mess to clean up. Later.

"What does Winner want done with his bricks?" Heero asked.

"He didn't say."

"Use that rope and tie the handles. We'll use the chest of bricks as an anchor for the Cajun's skiff. In this wind—" His voice trailed off.

Heero looked weary to the bone, but pushed off again, this time in search of the Sweepers hangout on the wharf. His eyes looked dead. Without Duo's bounce and upbeat personality, he acted like a man beaten down by life. _Obviously, it had been Duo who'd set the cadence for their partnership,_ Wufei surmised.

"He'll be all right. I'm talking about, Duo. His injury did not appear to be life threatening." Wufei said this with assurance, and then set about tying rope to Quatre's chest of bogus bullion.

(o)

Wufei oversaw the injured, leaving Heero to secure the boats and bring in the supplies and personal items, including Trowa's bag stowed under a seat in the skiff. Hilde forced a cup into his hands "here" as she rushed back and forth with pots of bloodied water and sodden towels. The doctor had left, but there was plenty of "mopping up to do" Hilde huffed on one return trip. He was about to sip his fresh, steaming tea, impressed with the young woman's straight forward manner and competence. When Heero finally blew in, it was with great effort that he didn't collapse on the floor. Hilde relieved him of his dripping rain gear and shoes. In a generous turn, Wufei helped Heero to a chair, handed over his own tea then went back to the kitchen to make himself another cup.

Wufei stared out through the dusk, and the rain blown about by the wind, great long curtains of it, swept up against the window in waves. Duo and Trowa were sleeping. He'd supplied them both with Chinese sleeping powder. Heero appeared asleep within seconds of sitting without the drug, slumped on a chair near Duo and breathing slowly and deeply.

Wufei had time to think at length. There were no books, nothing else for him to do. He thought of Treize and his hopeless, foolish attraction for the man. He reminded himself that Treize was not, by all likelihood, interested in him in the slightest, if indeed he was interested in men at all. Work seemed to encompass his entire world. Wufei sighed. He wasn't certain if he wanted sexual relations with a man. He just liked their no-nonsense company.

But Treize… There was no way around it; Wufei idolized the man. Winner had introduced them shortly after his arriving for his teaching assignment. It had been a grand party, but when Governor Treize Khushrenada shook his hand his universe contracted to just Treize and him. The governor had overheard, he explained, Wufei mention how he would miss his fencing instructor, and a special bond formed. Treize was a gentleman and a fencer. How Wufei looked forward to his invitations and ensuing contests! _Still, what more could he expect from a man in such a high profile position? Respect, at best._

For a different kind of companionship Wufei had Winner. The young man's brilliant conversation, kind heart, and generosity made him a valued friend. He had the wealth, education, and position, but he made it clear that his interest in other men was potentially and overtly sexual. Wufei didn't believe he wanted that; his teaching position would be threatened, for one thing.

Yuy was a real man. His only fault being his station in life. Wufei had to admit he found him handsome and good company, but he wasn't blind to what was building at the cabin—and he didn't limit that observation to the house construction. Yuy hadn't moved in with the new man in town for his luxurious accommodations.

Wufei wasn't attracted to Maxwell at all. Far too crude. He could hardly tolerate his company at times, but Yuy's infatuation with the guy amused Wufei to no end. Would they ever figure out how the other felt about them, he wondered?

He smiled and turned away from the window. Hilde's instructions were for him to choose food for dinner "while he was at it"—whatever "it" was. He didn't disclose that he was no cook.

Wufei examined the contents of the pantry, unimaginably bored. The cooking equipment consisted of skillets and bake-pans which resembled covered pots without the handles; two or three iron kettles; coffee pots, frying pans, a coffee mill; and a big combination dish and bread pan. The tableware included iron knives and forks, spoons, tin plates, and quart cups. He located staples stocked with the same items he'd seen in Heero and Duo's pantry, minus the rice: liberal supplies of bacon, cheese, and sausages, flour, coffee, tea, molasses, dried fruit, baking powder, salt, pepper, corn meal, beans and crackers.

Bacon was the reliable meat for storage, although fresh fish was always available living so close to the Rogue, and, if a person availed themselves of the Saturday market, seasonal fowl and game were abundant. Last fall, he had hunted antelope and deer with Winner. That had been a nice break after teaching for three months. _A very nice break_.

Still, Wufei favored Yuy's rice and vegetable dishes, but none of those items were in this pantry. What he found leaned more to Maxwell's cooking style. Maxwell, he knew from experience, prepared flapjacks, beans, crackers, and sour dough fried in a skillet and flooded with molasses as his most regular menu. Wufei smiled. He had become quite fond of Maxwell's bread.

"Whatever it is we eat, I'm makin' bread to go with it," Hilde announced.

Wufei hoped hers was comparable to Duo's. "Fish soup?"

"Good choice!" she laughed.

She put him to work chopping vegetables, intrigued by his fine slicing technique taught to him as a child by clan experts. She tossed the onions into the pot with salt and pepper, adding carrots and potatoes as he produced his perfectly cubed portions. Fish and broth were last.

He watched as she prepared the dough by placing a large chunk into a lid covered skillet and buried it in a heap of live coals in the same manner that Duo used. "Fifteen minutes. Watch that for me, okay? I got clams to go in, special-like."

Fish soup with freshwater clams was a luxury, and Wufei knew it. He nodded and remained by the fire. Maxwell employed the same method, which produced a fine looking loaf of bread browned to a tempting color, Wufei thought, remembering the tasty loaves with fondness.

"Good thing Duo wrote to say y'all were comin'," Hilde said from the stove. "I made apple pie."

Wufei felt an unexpected rush of joy. "Wonderful. You had time to bake a pie _and_ chase after pirates today?"

"Oh, honey!" She laughed. "A woman's work is never done, heh, heh…"

(o)

Hilde greeted Duo as his eyelashes fluttered open. "Hope you're hungry, sweet heart."

Duo grinned, "Eh, good one there. I'm always starving. You know that." He winced when she turned away, struggling to sit up. "Damned bruised ribs."

Wufei helped Trowa to the table, leaving Duo to Heero's tender mercies. When he took a seat, Hilde placed two loaves of fragrant bread on the table. Golden, salted butter, shining on a plate, steaming soup ladled into earthenware bowls—food, honestly crafted and freshly prepared, the storm raging outside—it was nearly too much for Wufei.

"Oh...sweet...mercy—"

Hilde fixed her bright eyes on him and smiled. "Dig in."

Through the rising vapors, he thought she looked beautiful. He tore a hunk of bread for himself while it was still piping hot refusing to show pain as he burned his fingertips. _What was the matter with him?_ He had eaten at Winner's table with fine ladies and gentlemen and finer food than this and not felt the strange overwhelming sense of comfort. He decided that the fighting must have got his blood up. _Yes, that was it!_

He stole glances across the table, studying Hilde while they ate. She had changed into a long red tunic with lacy pantaloons underneath. He'd never seen a woman wear revealing clothes like that. He finished his soup visualizing lacy pantaloons floating in each spoonful._ What crazy, madness was he thinking,_ he wondered?

"More?" she asked, ladle poised midair.

"Please," he muttered unable to meet her eyes.

_He hadn't even tasted the first portion! _We had already been sentenced to this remote teaching position for disobedience, what would be his next punishment for unclean thoughts?! Exile to some even more remote outpost? Banishment to the far reaches of civilization?!

And those clothes weren't helping either. _Maybe Hilde should take them off. _ His eyes opened wider than clamshells and he nearly choked. _Dear God! Had he said that aloud? No? _His heart pounded, blood coursed through his body doing the transit in double time, breaking down his mental barriers, and flooding his brain with nonsense.

"Cream with your pie?"

His good sense washed away with his inhibitions. He blinked stupidly. Hilde met his eyes with a saucy smile—no-- a smoldering, half-lidded smile. "Of course you do. Here you go."

A mountain-sized dollop of whipped cream (when had she made that?) melted over a slice of pie the span of his hand. His reason successfully destroyed in the earlier deluge left him with wreckage for brain material. His self-restraint was a sodden mess. He was never going to eat this lovely pie again anyway. He would never eat anything else except for brown rice and water in his lonely hermitage on the rock island off the coast of the northern hinterlands.

"Thank you."

He looked up, giving the table a cursory glance. It was a mistake. Licking his spoon clean of whipped cream, Duo had on his face the mesmerized look that Winner's cat got lapping its bowl of milk. If he was upset about the pirate attack, it wasn't affecting his appetite so Wufei had ignored him, up to this point. Beside him, Yuy hunched guardedly over his plate as he watched Duo's tiny pink tongue tip sculpt the foamy while cream like a man barely able to keep his composure. And Wufei should know, his being lost somewhere on a sea of emotions. Floating. Boneless.

Heero scooted closer to Duo, possibly without being aware of it, with all the stealth of Lucifer closing in on a mouse.

Then Hilde was speaking again. "Y'all go on in by the fire when you've finished up. Turn your wet boots some so they dry even. I'll be right along. Mr. Chang--"

Wufei's bones consolidated instantly and he was on his feet. "What?!"

Heero hissed and scooted into a ridged upright position.

"There's ale in the pantry. You know where, right?"

_No, but he'd find it_. "Yes."

Wufei's attention and back were required once again to support Trowa to the central meeting room of Hilde's place. As they walked through the doorway, Wufei felt immersed in a left-the-world-behind feeling. As if the fire dried away the lingering dampness of their shoes and clothes, the sounds of the storm and the voices of the other Sweepers living nearby diminished that they might have taken off with his unraveling conscience.

Wufei's consciousness resided somewhere between the here and now and enlightenment. If anyone else was present, he had forgotten all about them until somehow he was seated around the fireplace, listening to the others talk, a bottle of ale warming in his hands.

"By the way, honey," Hilde crooned into Duo's ear. "You're welcome."

"For what? You knew we were coming! What took you so long? We had'em under control, but still--" Duo said then started coughing.

"You were miles downstream from where you said they'd be!" Hilde argued.

"Well, I guess the pirates planned things different from us!" Duo countered. For an injured man, he seemed perky enough.

"I owe you, Miss Hilde," the green-eyed Cajun said. "W'atever I can do--"

"Why thank you. At least you know a favor when you get one."

"You got some _conjones_," Duo remarked to Trowa. "Spying on us, following us. That was you sneaking around our cabin, too."

Heero, guilt ridden about killing Solo, brooded as far away from the fire as possible, on a stool as rickety and uncomfortable as he could find. Wufei bet it was his way of punishing himself. He watched Heero scrutinize Duo and Trowa's exchanges from behind his messy bangs. Trowa rested his injured leg across a log. Duo languished, stretched lengthwise on a couch, ribs wrapped, arm bound, pale and quiet (for him.)

Hilde moved closer to him. Wufei breathed deeply. That scent. Floral, exotic. His mind turned inward as postcard views of his childhood home in the L5 sector transported him into the past. Ladies in silk, whispering in the evening. Jasmine. A sharp bark of laughter snapped him back into the here and now.

"Befo' you moved in, I used to come 'round and hang about de cabin. Saw de barge dere one night and voices so I scrammed."

"Quit mooning over Duo," Hilde said with a kick to Heero's chair and a spike of laughter.

"I'm not mooning," Heero said, but his gritted teeth and stunned gaze said otherwise. He looked sideways at Duo, but Duo hadn't heard them, Wufei thought. He was engrossed in his dialog with Trowa.

Trowa looked Heero deadon. "Sure you are," he said. "E'der dat or you got regrets 'bout killing pirates."

Wufei jerked to full alert. He had been so caught up in his own wild thoughts he'd practically ignored Heero's troubled behavior. He did now. _They had defeated the bandits, survived, kept to plan. Mission successful. So why was Yuy so obviously disturbed? _

What little color there was drained from Heero's face instantly. "I killed… Duo's brother."

"Huh?" Duo tried sitting straighter in order to look Heero in the eye, but failed to do anymore than nearly pass out with pain. "Ugh! Not… true—"

"That man tried to kill you, but when he saw your hair he recognized you. I heard him, Duo. He called your name and called you 'brother'. I… shot him, Duo!" Heero's anguish choked off his final words.

"That man was holding a blade to Maxwell's neck! You saved his life," Wufei said. "I saw what happened. You fired to hit his shoulder and disarm him. Maxwell moved, you adjusted your aim to miss his head, and the shot entered the assailant's body lower than intended. There was nothing you could have done differently and still have Maxwell alive now."

Heero's expression turned from haunted to grateful, unless Wufei read too much into the barest dilation of his pupils.

"Don't worry 'bout dat guy. His name was Solo," Trowa commented, "wid a fifteen-year crim'nal career of horse stealing, robbery, counterfeiting, murder, and piracy."

"Yeah, a long rap sheet," Hilde said. "So that was the famous Solo, huh?"

Duo twisted his neck as far as it would go attempting to look at Heero. In a small voice, he said, "'Ro, we weren't related. He'd been an old….acquaintance. Long time ago."

Hilde folded her arms over, no, _under_ her pert little bosom. There were a few water marks here and there where sudsy water had splashed. Her short, dark hair looked a little less windblown. Her blue eyes tender, _perhaps… come hither_?

"God, Duo, that wasn't the guy you been running from? The one who turned you down—?" she asked.

Duo groaned loud enough for Hilde to drop the subject and Heero to fawn over him with pillows and another blanket. One peek of lace as Hilde leaned over, a wisp of jasmine, and Wufei's cheeks heated again.

"Any friendship we'd had was gone long ago. Ancient history," Duo muttered.

Heero looked like he wanted to say more, a lot more, but backed away instead. Wufei found that he was a private man who was used to hiding his feelings, and now was no exception.

Trowa patted his side, located his smokes then leaned slightly toward Wufei. "Hey, mon ami. Get me a light?"

Wufei had no intention of waiting on the lay-about any more, but the tranquil-looking man's friendly attitude was softening him up. He held the cigarette against a hot coal until it smoldered then returned it to the outstretched hand.

"Merci." Trowa drew in a deep breath of smoke and let it out slowly. "Ah, so much de better. Now, you may grill me for information."

"Why would I do that?" Wufei asked. "You haven't been spying on me."

"You don't dink so?" Trowa smiled.

"Well, I'm curious," Hilde declared. "You can both tell me what it is you do for a living. Mr. Chang, you first. You're not a riverboat man, that's for sure."

"No, certainly not. I'm a--." Wufei's mind ran through the possibilities: _scholar, educated man, head of my clan, pompass ass, _before settling on the humble,"School teacher."

Hilde walloped him good on the back. "Wow, an awesome studmuffin with an impressive sword _and_ a brain. I am so--."

_Studmuffin?_ He choked and sputtered. "Uh-h—"

"Blown away, yeah. Oh, for cryin' out loud… Fei's the bomb, fer sure," Duo drawled. "Then there's Mr. Sneaky over there."

"Ummm… another dishy guy," Hilde purred.

Duo demanded, his tone cold, "What do you do when you're not spying on us, Cajun?"

Heero's flinty eyes bore through Trowa, while fingering his revolver in plain sight. Dishes full of holes couldn't hold water, not could dishy guys. In a voice as brittle as a wafer of ice, he said, "Answer him."

Trowa must have noticed the fall in temperature. His eyes skimmed the room suspiciously, possibly calculating his odds of escape, and then he sighed abandoning the idea. "Name's Trowa Barton. As in de Barton gang, but I'm not Dekim's son."

"What a novel story," Wufei said.

"You have one second to start explaining, or I'll kill you," Heero growled, gun in hand.

"Give me a chance!" Trowa spread his hands out in supplication. When it no longer appeared Heero was going to pull the trigger, he stated to explain. "To de nord, I'm known as Nanashi, a gambler runnin' de river and skirtin' de law—part of Dekim Barton's gang. I'm on de run after partin' ways wid de Barton mercenaries. De man kidnapped me, killed my fam'ly, gave me his name, but des evil men."

"That they are!" Hilde yelled. "They're already taking over lots of the Sweepers business! But you're still our little Trowclair the trader, aren't ya?"

"Yes, I'm also known as de Cajun trader, Trowclair, by de Sweepers. I hide out way far soud by de by-yu (spelled 'bayou") in winter and Tumult most de summer—"

"And our cabin in between," Duo said.

"Dat's right." Trowa sucked on his cigarette, drawing strength from it, it seemed, and then uttered a short aborted laugh. "It's not empty now, doh."

"What're your intentions? Why did you help us today?" Heero asked.

"Friendship? You look like de good guys. I know dings, bad dings."

"Like?"

"Dekim is expanding into de shipping business. Competing with Howard's folk for de salvage business is only de beginning. Der's more." He tossed his cigarette into the fire and watched it flame up and burn to ash. "He's in cahoots wid de Duke."

"That's nonsense!" Wufei said.

"You dink? You heard of boats powered by steam? No? Dink of it. Dem boats hauling up and down de river in no time. Big ones."

"They would put us all out of business," Heero said.

"Steam boats!" Hilde hacked out another laugh. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of!"

"It's de future. It's all 'bout who's in control."

"It ain't me tonight," Duo muttered.

Duo yawned near enough to split his face in two, so Hilde announced an end to the evening. "That's it! I nearly fell _in_ that time. Find yourselves a comfortable spot on the floor and I'll bring blankets—not you Duo! Stay put!"

Trowa was drained, having bared his soul. Wufei wanted so many diverse things he agreed to call it a night just to avoid all of them. Heero looked the part of the living dead and said nothing. So, Duo was left to sleep on the couch, while blankets on the floor made beds good enough for the rest of the young men. Hilde bid them a good night and departed, smiling at Wufei over her shoulder on her way out. The rain pounded, the wind blew, thunder rumbled and lightening crackled, and the boys slept the whole night through in spite of it all.

(o)

The next morning over a delicious breakfast with bowls piled high with flaky biscuits smothered in bacon-rich gravy, the boys agreed to hang around town and rest. Trowa couldn't walk and Wufei didn't trust him on his own. Heero didn't trust Duo to stay put whether he was alone or not.

"I have a freight load to pickup and take back," he told Wufei.

"We'll take turns going out then."

"Nonsense," Hilde butted in. "I can handle two gimpy guys. You go and give Mr. Yuy a hand with his freight, and then you and I can go out later. I need a thing or two in town."

Wufei was about to point out that if she was tough enough to fight pirates and guard to street-smart young men, then she could go shopping alone, but bit his tongue just in time. Maxwell and Trowa should be good enough to travel the next day, which meant today would be the last time he'd see Hilde for awhile. When opportunity knocks, only a fool runs out the back door.

"Very well," Wufei said with a curt bow. "I shall return shortly."

He raced out the door before he had to listen to Maxwell's guffaws, hoot and hollers. _At least he was feeling better, which meant Heero would liven up._

A freighting terminus was a busy place. Riverboats arriving and leaving, while others at dock discharging great quantities freight, kept the river hopping. Crowded warehouses lined the wharfs where the big prairie schooners loaded for their long westward journeys. The stench of livestock, oxen, mules, and horses concentrated downwind, washed somewhat cleaner by the big storm. They dashed out of the path of wagons filling the streets. Wufei admired the storefronts they passed.

"It appears that the merchants do a lucrative business here," he commented to Heero.

The terminus had a special section that was set aside for the overland freighters, which Heero purposely avoided, leading them to the wharf on the long way through town. Outfitting stations, workshops, dwellings, warehouses loomed in the distance.

"There are blocks of the city where there were only men's clothing shops, fitting-out houses, and outfitting establishments. A delightful situation for the merchants," Heero smiled. "Prices are very high and there's not much price competition."

They passed saloons, gambling houses, dance halls and all manner of rough amusements to extract the wages, laboriously earned, from the hard-working boatmen and trail men. The greater portion of the night before a start on a long slow journey was often spent by many of' the men in dissipation.

"Who gets to keep the boat that attacked you?" Wufei asked.

"Sweepers. I could argue some rights, but it's not worth the effort. I should find Howard and get Duo's revolvers back. They belonged to Winner."

Heero frowned and plodded forward. Wufei sensed what he wanted to talk about was what he was avoiding. He didn't know why he bothered to care about what happened between Heero and Duo, but he did.

Wufei stopped, hardly cognizant of the traffic wheeling around them. "You heard what Hilde said."

"About what?"

"About Maxwell, that man you can't share airspace with without sighing?" Wufei could see Heero's brows turn down into a frown and his mouth open to defend himself. Wufei was faster. "She said the dead man had turned Duo down. That means Duo pursued him. And _that _means he is attracted to men, like you. Oh, and _please_ don't pretend you haven't noticed."

"Hn. He might have turned down a business deal."

"Dear Buddha above! Maxwell wouldn't have run away from that, and you know it. He might run away from a failed love affair, though. I think you have all the confirmation required to make your move."

"My…move?"

"If you want to do more than sleep on that huge mattress you two share, you'd better make some move immediately. I say this with the proviso that I read that Cajun correctly."

Heero's jaw dropped, his face colored a dyspeptic green. "You think Trowa likes men—er—Duo…romantically? Wait! You think I do?"

"Don't you?" Wufei's lips curled upwards at the corners, slightly. Before Heero could answer, Wufei added another jab. "Well, if I was wrong, my apologies. Perhaps having Trowa around won't be so bad then."

"What?" Heero seemed completely perplexed.

Wufei couldn't imagine why. It all seemed so simple and obvious to him. Not like his personal affairs.

"You do realize you have to take Trowa back with you," Wufei told Heero, "don't you?"

End Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Eight**

(Heero and then Duo share the chapter POV duties)

Author's note: Thanks to Snowdragonct for her insights.

* * *

His heart pounded in his ears and his finger twitched, searching for the trigger of his Colt 47. He wanted to be done with this day, done with the work, and done with the needling. Heero mostly wanted the irritant to shut up. 

The cause for Heero's anxiety smiled in his self-satisfied manner and laid it out plain and simple. "About Maxwell, that man you can't share airspace with without sighing? (Heero knew who he meant) Miss Hilde said the dead man, the one you shot, (Heero knew which one that was, too) had turned Duo down. That means Duo pursued him. And _that_means he is attracted to men, like you. Oh, and _please_ don't pretend you haven't noticed."

_But what if I'm wrong,_ he wondered? Heero brushed aside the important parts of what Wufei had said, and attacked what he could. "He might have turned down a business deal."

"Dear Buddha above, you can't possibly believe your own tripe! Maxwell wouldn't have run away from that, and you know it. He might run away from a failed love affair, though. I think you have all the confirmation required to make your move."

He had come to consider Wufei Chang a friend after all the hours they had worked together on the house, but he didn't appreciate him meddling in his affairs. Heero did not easily confide his personal secrets, especially when he hadn't revealed the secret to the party involved—in this case, Duo. The last time he'd unburdened his heart it had been to Relena, and she had abandoned ship like an opportunistic rat. That triggered more unsettling and painful memories, and as he felt his chest squeeze, he stomped down the hurt.

"My…move?"

"If you want to do more than sleep on that huge mattress you two share, you'd better secure his affections immediately. The Cajun oozes charm."

Heero's jaw dropped and he felt the blood pumping dangerously hard and fast to his extremities, drain instantly from his face. "You think Trowa likes men—er—Duo…romantically? Wait! You think _**I**_ do?"

"Don't you?"

Heero wanted nothing more than to wipe off that pleased expression on Chang's face. He clenched his fists in preparation to do just that, when Wufei tipped his head in a carefree shrug.

"Well, if I was wrong, my apologies. Perhaps having Trowa around won't be so bad then."

"What?" Heero, dizzy with the heady return of blood flow, could not follow that logic.

"You do realize you have to take Trowa back with you," Wufei said, adding a blade-thin smile and, "don't you?"

No, he wasn't going to offer Chang ammunition to shoot him down with later. His feelings for Duo were, well, private. If he dropped the topic, maybe Wufei would understand and leave it be. But now Chang had given him something new to worry about-- the Cajun.

He clenched and unclenched his fists mustering his self-control. Heero hadn't noticed the gambler looking untowardly at Duo. Of course, he'd been so wrapped up in guilt over killing that Solo character he had hardly paid the quiet, lanky guy any mind at all. He thought Trowa had shown courage in the fight, had taken a hit for him, and had been forthcoming about his motives. Yeah, he had ties with Dekim Barton. Yeah, that was the guy who killed Odin, who'd been like a father to him. Yeah, he had more explaining to do, but Hilde knew him and trusted him, and she was a woman to be reckoned with. Wufei obviously knew more about the man than he did, or suspected the worst from him, but Yuy owed the guy for saving him, and folks on the river paid their debts.

Heero sighed. He owed Trowa for saving his life, and now that his leg was injured, he wouldn't be able to do for himself. Heero sighed again. He couldn't leave the man in the lurch. Still, if the Cajun had an eye for men, he'd best stay with Winner or--.

"He could stay with you," Heero suggested.

"What makes you think _I_ have room? I don't. My place is smaller than yours. Really just a room above the school," Wufei said. "Hardly even a room. Closet."

"He could stay here with the Sweepers."

"And leave a skulker like him on the loose? You'd risk losing the source of valuable information as well."

"Good point. Dekim Barton shared his name with him, so he must have had high expectations and big plans," Heero agreed. "And if Barton shared his plans and confidences with the Cajun--."

"Then the villain must be desperate to get his hands on our little sneak. If the Cajun has been telling the truth and is on the run from him, then his disability leaves him in a very vulnerable position. No, I think you'd best take him home with you."

_Absolutely not!_ "And what if Barton's mercenaries come looking for him at our place, and with Duo an invalid as well? No. He can stay with Winner. He can hire an army of bodyguards if he wants. Besides, he has plenty of places to put the man."

"Well_put,_ Yuy."

"I didn't mean--," Heero felt intense heat as the blood rose up his neck, coloring his cheeks. He hadn't meant to insinuate sexual contact might occur between the two men. It was not a topic of conversation he felt comfortable discussing with anyone. "I don't know what to do about Trowa. I'll talk to Duo. It's his decision, too," Heero said. "For now, we got work to do, before it's too hot."

Already, he sweltering. Then it occurred to him that he hadn't denied his unnatural attraction to other men. To Duo. And it was too late to return to that subject without drawing more attention to it. Chang didn't seem to care, anyway, and he kept Quatre's confidences. Duo. That brought up far more pleasant images of flashing teeth, glittering eyes, toned muscles, and an ass that beckoned him to explore.

"Ugh." Groaning didn't help relieve the need.

He hoped Duo was healing well. What would he do without his strong arms and laughter? Heero was suddenly struck with the realization of how indebted he was to be to Wufei. First Trowa and now Wufei! It was simpler being a loner. No, it wasn't. It was god-awful.

"I appreciate you filling in for Duo. You don't have to, but—"

"Physical work is invigorating. Much better than being closed up with the invalids."

Heero wasn't sure if he heard correctly a whispered, "and that tantalizing woman," tagged onto the end, but Wufei picked up his pace to hide his burning cheeks.

For almost a century, the fur trading post of Tallgeese served the Southern terminus of Serendipity along the Rogue River area well. The post acted as a collection depot for the pelts delivered by inland trappers. But the inland penetration of the rival White Fang Company, and the resulting loss of revenues, forced the Tallgeese Company to move upriver to Serendipity. Seven years later, the White Fang Company countered with a trading post of its own in North end of Serendipity, brazenly blocking the northern trappers' path to its rival's post. A fire, deemed accidental, burned the White Fang post to the ground. And now only the pub of the same name remained, which featured the local pale ale Heero and Duo had enjoyed before.

It wasn't long before Heero found the towering Tallgeese warehouse and they entered. Pallets of furs skins, and pelts stacked ready for loading reeked in the warmth and humidity. Wufei coughed and complained about the stench, while Heero scanned the space for a merchant ignoring the smell.

Once the paperwork was located, the order found, the items were sorted, ticked off, and carted away to Heero's waiting boat. Along the short route to the boat, Heero re-read the work order.

"It doesn't say here when the order is expected at the tannery." Heero pointed out.

"After that storm, if the order gets there at all, they'll be satisfied," he was told.

He looked up and met the dockworker's grey eyes. The man dropped his gaze and shifted on his feet. "Word's probably made it that far about the pirate attack. Tough luck. I heard Sweepers are taking care of you?"

"Yes. They have been generous." Heero dipped his chin in a single crisp nod. He was relieved not to have a timetable. It meant Duo could rest up before having to travel. _The Cajun, too._ His stomach knotted. _Another day to think about what to do._

"I'll leave you to unload, then. Just tie up the mule cart when you're done. I come for it inna bit." The workman tipped his hat and left.

From his ever-present knapsack, Heero pulled out his gloves and Duo's. He was about to offer Duo's to Wufei, but didn't. He hesitated. He slipped his right hand into Duo's right glove and felt their differences in well-worn creases, but it felt good. _Like holding his hand, _he thought with warmth. He decided to trade gloves and keep Duo's.

"Here." He tossed Wufei his gloves. "Save you from more blisters."

Wufei pulled them on with a polite, tight bow. "Yours? Our hands are similarly narrow."

"Yes," Heero answered. With a rush of embarrassment he hoped Wufei hadn't been thinking the same thing he had. He'd never thought about the intimacy of glove-sharing before. Heero hid his expression and moved with haste. He grabbed some furs off the top of the stack and heaved them onto the dry, tarp-covered spot he'd prepared on his boat. After they hefted piles of pelts and what felt like untold numbers of furs and skins, Heero showed Wufei how to wrap them securely with oilcloth to protect them from the elements.

"More rain is due to pass through at any time."

"Oh, joy," Wufei muttered.

"Keep the gloves," Heero said. "We have an order of tobacco to pick up next."

"Joy upon blessed joy." Wufei stretched his back and shook out his weary arms. "I haven't been getting enough exercise. I used to spar regularly and fence."

"Yeah?" Heero stripped off his sweaty shirt and wiped his face. He felt Wufei's eyes sweep his chest like a cool breeze, but the glance didn't linger. Heero thought it was more appreciative than hungry. "I'll be short-handed for a few weeks. I could use your help. If you're interested, that is."

"You're not worried Maxwell will object?"

"I'll give him no reason to," Heero said, hoping Wufei read the intended meaning into his words. He would tell Duo how he felt this day and secure his affections. That way, Duo would have no reason to be jealous of Wufei taking his place. It was temporary anyway. Until Duo was strong again.

"Good. Make certain you clarify that to him. Then I accept."

"You know the pay's not much. I can only offer you Duo's half."

"Don't insult me. You'll pay me no such amount. I do this out of friendship. It would bring dishonor to my ancestors if I took money for what is for my own good and for aiding a comrade in need."

"The way of the river is… different, Chang. I must give you something in return."

"If you insist, you may pay for my food and drink. That would be honorable."

"To me as well."

"Then it's agreed, and you'll talk to Maxwell."

"Ah, yes." Heero grumbled the last bit. He needed no reminding.

(o)

The wind and rain had left the air refreshed, but that was yesterday. Today, with the warming sun bearing down, it steamed. They were hot and sweaty from the hot work and ready to go for drinks by the time they were done loading furs

and had finally located the tobacco warehouse. Wufei, even Heero, seemed relieved, when they discovered the boat delivering the tobacco from the Deep South, never made it in because of the storm delay.

"So, loading's done for the day?" Wufei asked.

"Yes. Disappointed?"

"No." Wufei broke out into a weak smile.

"Me, neither," Heero said, and nearly grinned with relief. He guided the flatboat back to the Sweeper's dock, where the freight would be watched over and safe. "Food all right with you?"

"I could drink my weight," Wufei said.

"Good. I know a place. Not far."

Despite the heat, Heero wasted no time finding the nearest eatery. He yanked his damp shirt back over his head and power-walked into town, Wufei running to keep up. On the way into the bar, Heero tracked down the waitress and made it absolutely clear they were ready to place their orders.

"Two beers and two special plates."

"Same for me," Wufei tossed out.

"I was ordering for the both of us."

"Not enough."

Heero scanned the slender young man. "Where do you put it?"

"Where do _you?_" Wufei cast him a wicked little smile and pushed by him, worming his way into a booth at the back.

After a couple of drinks, Heero's tongue loosened. He leaned across the table, arms folded, eyes burning.

"I don't know."

"That's what I like about you," Wufei said. He ran a finger over the condensation causing the droplets to run together and puddle on the table. "You aren't afraid to start a conversation _in medus res_, a presentation I've always admired, for it means that small talk is dispensed with, given that you began the conversation in the middle, and in the middle of something you feel strongly about. Now, as to what you said, I think that's an honest assessment."

Heero snorted a sharp little laugh and then pressed his lips into a thin, hard line. "How did you know?"

"Know what? Oh… you mean…" Wufei leaned in, lowered his voice, and said, "How did I know you were attracted to your cabin mate? Dear Lord, everyone but Maxwell can read your body language, and he would, too, if he wasn't so worried about me enticing you away." Wufei laughed.

Heero's discomfort level rose. "You--?"

"I don't care what your proclivities are." Wufei snorted. "My interests lie elsewhere and as faraway from Maxwell as possible; at least, that would be ideal."

"Hn." At least Wufei was not in competition for Duo, but Heero didn't want to discuss his feelings for another man. For some reason, men could laugh about their "women problems," but not their men. That had to remain private, or would, if Wufei didn't insist on meddling.

"Don't worry. Buddha told us: 'Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.'"

"That mean I should share my candle?"

Wufei laughed. It was a silent, suppressed, shuddering type of laugh. He laughed so hard he shook and hid his face on his arms folded on the table, unable to look Heero in the face. "Yesss," he hissed.

Heero glanced away and caught the eye of the woman toting bottles of beer to the table next to his. She trundled over. "More?"

"I want three orders of these. Can you wrap those for me to take away?"

"No problem."

She wrote up the bill and handled the totaled list to Heero, which he took with a cropped "hn." Heero felt ill at ease with Wufei's relaxed demeanor, and hated himself for feeling anything. He liked the man serious and remote-- snooty. Heero didn't like being Wufei's source of entertainment, and when he dug a little deeper and faced his feelings honestly, Heero was afraid of the growing closeness. Quatre and now Wufei. Duo was something else. _Who knew about the Trowa guy?_ The last time he'd had a group of chums, they'd all died.

Wufei gathered himself together and finished his meal. The tables were closely packed and the place grew noisy as more patrons clamored inside. Heero said nothing more and neither did Wufei. When a paper sack containing his order arrived, Heero paid the bill, and stood.

"My treat," he said when Wufei reached for his coin purse, "for the work you did, and… all."

"Understood." Wufei still wore a bemused look. "Are you especially hungry?"

"Extra sandwiches to take back to Duo, and possibly Hilde, if she is in, and Trowa, if I still feel so obliging."

Wufei smiled and Heero didn't like it. Not at all. It was as if he knew something Heero didn't, which now he couldn't possibly. Wufei muttered something incomprehensible, and Heero asked, "What was that?"

"I said I jotted a note to Winner. He's probably worried to death about the outcome with the pirates. Also, I added that we'll be delayed getting back another day."

"There're mail boats along the way," Heero told him.

They located a small skiff about to depart with "MAIL" painted on the prominently displayed strong-box. Heero shouted to the official-looking man at the helm, "Hold on! One more!"

The boatman held out a long-handled pole with a basket attached to the end. Wufei dropped two coins and his envelope into the basket and secured the loose lid. "Very good!" shouted the mail man. He set to his oars and Heero and Wufei watched as he slipped away from the dock. The mail wouldn't get into Sublimity until late evening. Poor Quatre having to worry so long.

(o)

The doctor had stopped by very early to check on the condition of his two patients. Both of them, he declared, had been "very lucky" not to have damaged any internal organs or broken any bones. He rebound the dressings, pronounced them "very, very lucky indeed", and left.

His visit had exhausted them both, but Duo was first to vocalize how he felt. "Why don't I feel fuckin' lucky right now, sitting here, IN PAIN, while Wufei and Heero and Hilde, shit, all the Sweepers are out there whoopin' it up?" Duo groused.

Trowa just replied, "Yer alive and had a mighty sexy guy watchin' over you all night, an' dass fo' a fack."

"Watching--? Shit!" he hissed. Duo choked on his own spit, coughed, nearly died at the burning pain from his bruised ribs.

Afterwards, Duo and Trowa slept the morning away. When they awakened, Hilde couldn't be found to help, so Duo half carried the taller man to the bathroom to relieve himself, and then took a turn himself. When they returned, they traded places with Trowa now stretched comfortably on the couch and Duo occupying the chair and log footrest. Trowa didn't look like he was able to or wanting to run off anytime soon.

Hilde flounced into the room in a flurry of activity. "Just in and out!" With a clatter of dishes, she left them with tea and toast. "Too busy, too busy to entertain y'all!"

"'Sokay." Trowa had his own healing herbs, one being a willow tea for pain, which he added to his cup and then Duo's. The air felt too warm already for hot tea drinks, but thirst overrode comfort. After a sip, Trowa dug out a pack of cards from his bag.

"So," Duo began. He studied the card shark's shuffling technique with interest, feeling marginally better. His injured and bound arm reminded him not to move, and his bruised ribs wouldn't let him. "How'dya know we were floating gold bullion?"

"Word travels fast. W'en gold's involved, it travels faster."

"Networking the thieves?"

"I still got a friend or two from de ole gang. Not all 'em agree wid Dekim's plans." Trowa dealt a hand. "Five-card stud?"

"Okay," Duo said keeping his eyes on the quick fingers. "You know who made the transaction?"

"'Course. Winner company business."

Duo checked his cards and swallowed back a groan. _Jacks and sevens, ugh._ He tossed a coin onto the upturned crate they were using for a table.

"He's a bud of mine, ya know?"

Trowa took the pot with a pair of Queens. "Who? De blue-eyed iceberg wi't the hots for you, I t'ink?"

"_Who?_ Ah, Heero? Um, we're just buds, really. Nothing going on like that. Nothing. Nada, nada, nada. Um, no. Ahhhh, I was meaning Quatre Winner, head of the company's my buddy. It was his idea, this tea party-- setting up the payment, spreading the word, luring the pirates out."

"Ha!" Trowa laughed, but whether it was because Duo had diminished the attack to a mildly harrowing event or called the head of the Winner company his "bud" it wasn't clear. He shuffled and dealt new hands, which Duo didn't expect to be any more favorable than before. How Trowa cheated, he hadn't guessed, yet.

"Oh, yeah. I'm renting my cabin from him, me an' Heero. We're fixin' it up. Wufei's even giving us a hand. You'll like him, maybe."

"Wufei? He seems all right."

"He ain't no limpdick, for sure, even though I just piss him off. He gives me a bad rap hands down all the time. But, shit, I didn't mean the school teach. I meant Quatre." Duo lost another hand. "Fuckit! Luck like mine shouldn't happen to a dog. You should let me win once, just for giving you the couch."

Trowa chuckled. "Dis one will be good. So, Heero, he was broken up 'bout shootin' dat no good Solo."

Duo stared at his cards.

"Was de pirate your beau, perhaps?"

"Beau? What the…? No, **Bro**! As in _brother_! He called me_bro_. We grew up together on the streets. No other family."

"Not a lover then?"

"No! Fuck! I nearly got us killed just saying I wanted ta… Oh, damn. Nothing between us, like I said."

"Ah… ha. Dat's okay. An' den? You ran away. Like Solo were no mo' den a bad climate you wanted to get away from."

"Something like that." Duo groaned. "Ugh, I outta know when to clam up." Duo shut his mouth.

Trowa laughed. "Don worry, Duo. It's not my business, but I watch folks a lot. I learn to fit in, blend in, so I notice t'ings—like how de blue-eyed man guards his territory."

"No, he don't." Duo sniffed and studied his hand. He looked up from his cards, frowning. "You gave me these cards on purpose."

"Are dey not good enough fo de pretty boy?" Trowa smiled and hid his eyes behind his long overhanging bangs.

"All the fuckin' aces, you Cajun card shark!"

"Guess you win dis time."

Duo liked Trowa for the most part. He was funny, clever, not terribly honest, and not too nosy a know-it-all, but a sneaky one. "Yeah, guess I win. Say, you're not gonna be good for much until your leg's fixed and you got no place to stay, so how about you come back to the cabin and stay with us?"

Duo thought this was a brilliant idea. So did Trowa. They were so pleased with themselves, that they nearly missed Heero and Wufei's entry.

(o)

Heero did not like the look of Duo sitting on the chair, instead of on the couch stretched out like he should be. The chair was too close to Trowa, and Duo's feet shouldn't be on the couch nearly touching the Cajun's. _That's what the log was for!_ Trowa was shuffling cards, probably taking every hard-earned penny Duo had, and Duo needed his rest.

"Duo."

"Hey, 'Ro! You're back. What smells so good? Is that food? You brought me FOOD? Yes! Man, gotta love ya for that! I don't know where the hell Hilde's gone to."

Trowa interrupted the report. "She said she was going over de pirates' boat looking fo de goods. Duo tol' her to look fo de guns he lost."

Heero nodded. "That is acceptable. Duo, ah-."

"I thought so too. Here, Tro." Duo handed him one of the sandwiches in the bag. Wufei snatched the remaining one "to save for Hilde."

"This is good. Anyway, so I told Tro he could hang at our place a day or so until he's on his feet, so to speak. Yeah, sure, I'll have a beer."

"That could take weeks. How generous you are," Wufei said before Heero could start yelling something stupid. This turned out to be a good call. Heero needed the extra few seconds to re-think his position. He made up his mind to bear the responsibility of Trowa's care, and to get Duo alone as soon as possible.

"We can't leave," Heero said. "That is, we don't have to go tomorrow. I can drop the pelts at the tannery the next day, and then we go home. And…Trowa can stay on the couch."

"I'm in your debt," Trowa murmured.

"Call us even. For the leg," Heero added. "There's plenty of work to be done. You'll earn your keep." Heero turned to Duo and asked abruptly, "Are you well enough to take a walk?"

"A walk? Uh, yeah." Duo winced as he stood, but he was damned if he was going to show unmanly weakness in front of Heero. He didn't know how he was going to do his job, though.

Heero led the way out the door and around the corner to a narrow space between Hilde's place and the rest of the Sweepers warehouses and shacks. He tried to get his thoughts in order after his first attempts had been scrambled by seeing Trowa with Duo being too cozy. Now he had to formulate intelligent conversation off the top of his head. He must have taken too long, because Duo began toying with the tip of his braid.

Then he lost the moment to the quicker thinking, faster talking young man with the beautiful eyes and outrageous hair.

"If you're pissed about me inviting Trowa like that without talking to you first— and I'd be pretty bent out of shape I you pulled something like that on me—I'm sorry, but I gotta blame it on the meds. He's got some serious pain killers you smoke and others you drink. You might wanna try some yourself and see--"

"Duo, it's your house. You don't have to consult with me," Heero said sounding colder than he meant. But before he could correct that impression, Duo broke in.

"Oh. Well, I mean, I ain't gonna be worth jack-shit to ya hauling freight for awhile and Trowa's just more dead weight hanging 'round. An' I feel like crap laying that all on ya. So, I figure the least I can so it take care of him—"

_Like hell you will!_ "He took a bullet for me. I owe him."

"Oh." Duo drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "But someone's gotta work! You gotta business to run."

Heero's hands opened and he flexed his hands impatiently. The conversation was not going as he wanted. This was not what he wanted to discuss! "It won't be long. Winner got us into this; he can help with the invalid."

"In-val-**ids**. There's two of us. You planning on dumping me off on him, too?"

"No!" Heero shouted, making Duo jump backwards, and ramming his head into the building behind him.

He hit the wood paneling hard enough to knock flakes of faded blue paint into his hair. "Ah, jeez!"

Heero reached out to steady him, swallowed, and lowered his voice. "No, I'd never _dump_ you like that."

He liked the feel of Duo's hard shoulder muscle, but when Duo grimaced and tried to pull away, he discovered he'd been tightening his grip on the damaged one.

"Fuckitall, 'Ro. Let up!"

_Another mistake! _ _This was not going right at all! _"I don't want Trowa around you."

Duo's expressive eyes narrowed and he spoke as if he were biting glass. "Me? I was thinking how the four of made a nice little foursome."

_Foursome! NO! _ Heero did not know how the conversation had taken this unfortunate turn, and had no idea how to chart a course for safer territory. On the river, brute strength served him well, but here on land it was all about words. Relena had been good with words. Duo was a master, far better than he. Heero was at a loss. "I have no idea what you mean. Duo, I'd didn't want to start an argument with you or insult you or—"

"There you are!"

Heero growled and had his gun out and shoved up into the weather-worn face of a wild-eyed, older man. Just as he registered the familiar face, though, Duo slammed his good shoulder into Heero's side, bowling him over. As Heero crumpled to the ground under Duo, the gun fired into the air.

"You asshole!" Duo shouted. "That's Howard! He saved our asses and now you shove artillery in his face?"

"How…ard?" Heero shook his head and swore he could hear his shrinking brain rattle. "Uh."

Duo had Heero pinned at the legs, but was holding his bad arm close to his side and was breathing hard. "Oh, damn… that hurts."

"If you boys are finished with the foreplay, I got some things of yours here you might wanna look over." Howard's eyes glittered with humor and he laughed like some people sneeze, an "ah-ha, ah-ha, ah-ha, ah-ha" that segued into a brief explosion as he turned away.

Heero skittered out from under Duo, and eased the injured, wheezing boy onto his knees. He felt terrible for overreacting and humiliated that Howard had implied he'd attempted some sort of sexual contact._All he'd wanted to do was tell Duo he liked him in a special way, and now this mess._ He helped Duo to his feet with gentle hands. "Sorry. I'm not good with surprises."

"Guess not."

"Can you stand?"

"'S just the ribs." Duo gasped with pain as he strained to stand straight. "Juss get me inside."

Heero dragged Duo's good arm over his shoulders, wrapped an arm around his waist, tested the placement, and then lowered his arm to Duo's hips and away from the tender ribs. He trembled at the feeling of Duo's warmth so close, his distinctive smell, and the heavy rope of hair slithering over his arm. "This good? I can carry you."

"'S'all right. Just go slow. Fuck, I hate being such a wuss."

"You are not a…'wuss'," Heero said. He let a little smile creep into his voice, too. Heero liked the way it felt to have Duo wrapped around him. He liked it so much he didn't move. Once inside, it would be too late to say anything. He had to do it now. Now or never. Right… now. A soon as Duo gave him a sign.

Some kind of sign.

_Any time._

"Um, we going in, or what?" Duo asked.

"I, ah, like your eyes."

There. He said something. Duo, he felt, should be able to take it from there. Duo, however, stiffened in his arms. Those eyes were staring up at his, wide and blue, blue with a touch of violet, a little stormy. _Say something! _

"Say something," Heero echoed aloud.

"Ah… Yours are nice, too," Duo said.

_What else? Hair._ Duo already knew he liked his hair. He'd told him before. Why was it so hard to say something like that now?

"Your hair… needs washing."

Those big eyes blinked shut, but moments later Duo was staring back at him, a coy look on his face.

"There's a big tub out back. Private."

"Room for two?"

"It'd be tight."

Heero thought "tight" was right. "I thought I was too late."

From the curious look on his face, Heero could tell Duo was lost even without saying a word, so he talked faster. "Then I saw him with that knife at your throat. I just reacted, but it was to protect you. I, uh, I don't know what I would have done if you'd died back there."

He knew he'd said it right, because Duo smiled with the lights in his eyes. Heero no longer felt like they were children holding back a secret. Duo liked him, too, he was sure, especially when Duo asked, "You gonna kiss me?"

"Ah, I think so."

They might have stood there smiling at each other a while longer, when a door slammed and they heard shouting.

"We'd better go and break them up, huh?"

"Not until I get that kiss."

He'd come this far, Heero wasn't going to screw up this part. Relena had kissed him before. He knew the mechanics, but he wasn't prepared for the heat of his first kiss with Duo. Duo's lips felt chapped, but pliant as they pressed into his. It only lasted one, two, three heart beats, but when they pulled apart, his world had changed permanently. He was sure.

"What did I tell you?" Heero asked. "No wuss would have done that."

That earned him a blush and shy smile. "That was … so hot," Duo said, sighing breathlessly. "How 'bout we skip to the bathing part and let them settle their own fight?"

"Five minutes. I want to recover your guns. Then we go." Heero led Duo inside the room where Trowa and Wufei were yelling about whether or not the honorable Governor Treize Khushrenada would stoop to dealing with the dirty, rotten Dekim Barton group of mercenaries.

"I have studied the letters and essays," Wufei asserted. He wore his man-of-letters face. "As a military leader, Treize Khushrenada inspired loyalty and devotion in his soldiers. He still stands as a symbol of the noble warrior in an age when glorified warfare grows obsolete."

"Mebe so, _mon professeur_, but dat was den, now he's using de mercenaries to fight on de northern borders. Dekim supplies him men and in return he wants to control de river trade. An' sat's juss de beginning!"

"Hi, guys," Duo said, trying to get their attention. He was ignored.

"I find that impossible to believe. I have met the man, fenced with him. The effect he has those around him is one of a kind. He has generals and military willing and able enough to conduct any wars he wants. What would he need with mercenaries?"

"Hey, how about dinner? What's to cook?" Duo asked, to no avail.

"To do w'at his men won't, perhaps? W'ere one powerful personality shapes the course of an era, dere will be dos ready to corrupt him to dere own purposes."

"He's… incorruptible! And what's more--."

Hilde breezed into the room and greeted them with a cheerful, "Hiya!" It was as if she had one foot in the house and the other in a better world altogether.

Wufei's eyes glazed over, his mouth hung open. "Hilde."

"Yeah, let Hilde chill them out." Duo tugged on Heero's sleeve. "Time's up."

End Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Nine**

Treize, Duo, Wufei, Heero, Quatre, and Trowa taking turns like good boys (POV)

A/N: I apologize for the length of this chapter ahead of time.

Thanks to Silver Cateyes for the use of the "the cabin is far too small to house three men, and of course Trowa must stay up at the mansion" line and idea.

* * *

Governor Treize Khushrenada did money right. He had his own investment firm in the capital city of Sanc and moved a lot of money around, both for himself and a select few clients. He backed numerous overland freighters, turning poor bushwhackers into rich merchants. But as of late, he liked start-ups. Naturally, he would warn his clients away from volatile-looking ones, but they didn't always take his advice. It astonished him how reckless people were with their money, how eager to part with it at first sniff of something that looked promising, but probably wasn't, like hounds on the trail of a fox. 

_Or flies to honey. _

_Honey…_

Honey was the color of her hair. _Leia._ How Dekim Barton fathered so lovely a thing as Leia, Treize didn't know. Barton's daughter was a sweet young lady Treize had been the first to taste. _Leia, oh Leia!_ _She was really-- I miss her._ His thought, unfinished, stumbled up against loss.

His dead mistress, Leia Barton, occupied his thoughts for several minutes.

_Hounds on the trail of a fox._

No, Dekim Barton was more like the lowly fly than man's best friend. Treize didn't think the mercenary leader was anyone's best friend, but he held to the belief that one should keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.The originator of that quote was the Chinese general and military strategist, Sun Tzu, from L5. He would know; he wrote "The Art of War", which Treize had read at the age of eight.

Treize withdrew the heavy tome from his bookcase, where it had been holding up other, lesser books for years, and flipped trough the pages, looking for a highlighted line. Sun Tzu had explored the possibility of victory without violence and stressed the need to win before the battle has even begun via proper strategy and attitude, a philosophy which Treize, General Khushrenada, had applied assiduously and, in return, had brought him countless victories in the past.

"Why do you fail me now that I must resort to the Dekim Barton's of this world to conduct my battles?" he asked the pages.

He left the book open where he had underscored: "He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain." Treize felt he was that man; at least, very nearly.

Treize picked off the uppermost file from a stack of many and opened it again. Would Tsubarov's new invention give him the ultimate edge? The _steam _engine. How could steam power a cart or a boat? It was preposterous! And the chief engineer was demanding more money for R&D. Still, it was a start-up company and Dekim Barton had both an application for the product and the greed to pay for the rights. His question was whether the steam engine was would turn out to be sweet, profitable honey or a cunning fox.

(o)

Duo looked over Heero: a brooding, sulky-lipped hunk, a stud somewhere between eighteen and nineteen, with hairless, highly sculpted pectoral muscles on prominent display as he unbuttoned his shirt. Nothing was going to stop Duo now. They had finally broken through that "we're both dudes that like dudes" barrier. After that kiss, he wasn't going to let Heero backtrack into his shell, form regrets, or have second thoughts. _Time for cementing their relationship._

The first problem turned out to be Howard. The Sweepers' leader put a stop to their progress by blocking the entry to the bath house. "You get dirty water on that wound and you'll be fighting an infection sure as rats on a wharf. I'll give you boys a hand."

"Shoot'im, 'Ro." Duo thought his previous boss's bright shirt with painted exotic flowers made a damned good target.

"I understand," Heero said to the older man, disregarding Duo's nonsense. "I can take care of him, alone."

"That's what I'm attempting to stop," Howard said. "If you get my drift. Some of the boys, well, they aren't too forgiving of boy-love at all."

Duo dipped his chin and struggled with his embarrassment. It was like having your father tell you he was going to stay in the room so you and your boyfriend couldn't have sex. Exactly. "He's gonna wash my hair. Can't do it with one hand, can I?"

"Generous boy!" Howard hooted and opened the door. "I'll just keep the conversation going. Been awhile, Maxwell."

"Pervert," Duo muttered as he passed. Howard just laughed his sneezy laugh at the jibe.

Duo's second problem was with the bandaging on his arm and the deep tub. He'd have to sit with that arm out, resting high and dry on the edge. Not so great for cuddling. Heero helped Duo into the tub, which he'd filled partway with warm water, then proceeded to unravel his braid.

"Once you told me that you specialized in recovery and reclamation, moving goods on and off flatboats with Howard and the Sweepers, and running materials up to the salvage yards of Serendipity. You meant raiding pirate boats, didn't you?" Heero asked.

"Heh, heh… Figured that one out on your own?" Duo asked.

"We do all kinds of recovery, but cleaning up on the pirates is new, and the most profitable," Howard admitted.

"Duo's good at river work," Heero said, his voice taking on a hard edge.

"Always was a good worker," Howard said.

"So, why did you let him go, send him away?" Heero demanded.

"Hey! I'm sitting here!" Duo cried out. "Ouch! Fuck! The other end of that stuff's attached to my head!"

"Right." Heero untangled his hands from Duo's hair with the dexterity he saved for just that.

"What I'm talkin' 'bout—" Duo grumbled. "Keep your eyes to yerself, old man!"

Howard hacked his raspy laugh and looked away. "Damned nuisance, that hair."

"Hold your breath." Heero pushed Duo's head under water and said to Howard. "You knew the man, Solo, was leading the pirate ring, and that Duo was running from him."

"Yeah, might as well be honest," Howard said.

Duo surfaced, sputtering. "Fuckittohell! Gimme a chance to catch some air next time, 'Ro!"

"Sorry." Heero massaged the bar of soap into his hair, scratching Duo's scalp just how Duo liked. "Better?"

"Oh, yeah…"

Heero worked the suds into the long strands and let Duo take care of his private parts. He would have like to have washed all of him, but with Howard puttering around, Heero avoided teasing himself with tempting thoughts.

"So, Duo works for you now?" Howard asked.

"We are partners. We share the work and a house." Heero wasn't sure about Duo's job agreement with Howard, so he added, "Until, ah, the one here with you reopens, if that's what he wants."

Duo tensed up under his hands.

"Um, about that position," Howard said. "Things are pretty tight. Even with this hoard to re-sell, business is damned slow. I don't even know if I'll be able to recall any of the men I laid off."

Duo could feel Heero's shrug. "Duo's got a job for as long as he wants with me."

"Doing what?" Duo grumbled. "I can't do a piss-ant thing until the ribs heal and my arm, ugh. I'll take weeks and you need—"

"I need you, ah…, fit again, but I ran the river alone before. I'll just do less, like before." Heero said. "I'm going to dunk you again, now, to rinse. Ready?"

Duo held his breath and nodded then down he went.

"Did Duo tell you about how he and I met?" Howard asked.

Heero said "yes" and let Duo up for air. "Again. Ready?"

As Duo submerged Howard said, "The boy was a whore, or about to become one." Howard paused while Duo splashed around and surfaced again. "But he was so…spirited. He hadn't been beaten down yet, so I picked Duo up off the streets and gave him a job and a home."

"Aw, not that story, Howie," Duo moaned. "Heero knows all that."

"You don't think he wants to hear more about you was screwed, blued, and tattooed?" Howard asked, wheezing as he broke into his peculiar laugh.

Duo caught Heero's eyes with a worried look. "He means that I was pretty badly messed up, that's all."

"I know." Heero nodded and handed him a towel. "Here. I'll get another for your hair."

Duo said, "Hurry up! I wanna bust ass outta here before this poor schmuck Howard starts going all schmaltzy on us."

Howard grinned and turned away, heading for the door. But Duo didn't feel safe yet. As soon as the second towel appeared, he reached for it, but Heero reeled in him closer.

"Let me do this." Heero's flat toned voice sounded sexy when he whispered.

"Okay." Duo's voice going husky with lust. "Ah, hell, 'Ro, you didn't get a bath."

"Tomorrow." Heero pressed and squeezed the water from the longest parts, and then helped Duo wrap the towel around his head. "There."

His eyes trailed over the bruised chest, but didn't flinch. And then Heero leaned closer and pressed his lips to Duo's very surprised ones. The kiss was hardly more than a chaste peck, followed by a promise of "more later."

"And that's why I can't leave you alone for a minute!" Howard's voice carried all the way to the house where the man stood waiting for them. "Hurry up. We got two more to wash up before the doctor arrives."

Bathing Trowa was a much greater chore, since his entire leg had to be kept dry. To Trowa's embarrassment, Wufei lent Heero a hand, setting him on an upturned bucket in the middle of the tub with his bum leg resting high and dry on the side.

Wufei and Heero took turns pouring water over Trowa, while he washed up as best he could. He dried off, and with their help, dressed in an extra shirt and worn, loose pants Howard found. The one pant leg was slit to the knee and rolled up, enabling it to fit over the heavy bandaging. His damaged buckskin pants and Duo's ripped shirt had been sent out for repair, and the rest of the boys' worn, grimy clothes had been carried away for laundering.

Once Trowa was settled on the couch, he gave into his exhaustion, closed his eyes, surrounded by kind, generous folks offering him the kind of friendship and safety he hadn't known in many years, and awaited his turn to see the doctor.

(o)

Wufei changed the water, leaving Heero and Howard to carry away the done-in, young Cajun back to the house, and took his own bath in dignified silence and privacy. When Wufei returned to the house, the doctor was just leaving and passing on his woeful advice.

Trowa was smoking-- no, holding an unlit cigarette in his hand and staring with rueful concentration at the fire, hoping the cigarette would light spontaneously for him, no doubt. Duo was sitting very near Heero. Very. With shoulders touching. _Well, that was progress, _Wufei decided._  
_

"Continue to replace the dressings as I've shown you," the doctor said in his doomsday voice.

Wufei thought the man had missed his calling. He should have run a mortuary service. Maybe he did. Wufei guessed he'd contributed to it often enough with his primitive medicine.

"I've left plenty for the next week, after that you must find your own dressings. You'll have to go to the apothecary's for sterile bindings. Of course, there's no telling, no telling. Infection can start up at anytime. Ah, but you were awfully lucky, you know. Could have hit the artery and then you would have been in dire straits, dire!"

"Hey, handsome." Hilde rested a hand on Wufei's arm and gently turned him toward her. "You promised to walk me into town, and now I need a few things for dinner. Ready?"

Well, he_ had_ promised. And, even though it wouldn't be dark for hours, being summer with light long into the evening hours, a woman should not walk unattended at night. "Yes."

"And don't you dare smoke in my house, Trowclair!" she shouted back over her shoulder on her way out. She stomped off grumbling.

"Miss Hilde," Wufei called out. He kept pace with ease, but he didn't understand why she was in such a rush and suddenly mad. "Was it something I said?"

"You? Why should anything you say matter at all?"

"Well, I—" had nothing to say that contributed to the conversation or made any sense whatsoever.

"You just sail in, flailing that sword of yours around like some hero out of an old Chinese folktale, looking all gallant and brave and then you're so cultured and kind and thoughtful."

Wufei was at a loss for words. He wasn't any of those things, was he? Well, cultured and brave, certainly. And—what was she saying now?

"And you have to go so soon? With them? Oh, I know, you have to help out while Duo's hurt and can't pull his weight, I know, I know. But after that, you can come visit, can't you?"

"You want to see me again?" he asked doubtful that such a thing could be true; no one else did.

She wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace and kissed him firmly. "Yes, damn you anyway with your foreign charm and sexy smile."

He hadn't thought he had a sexy smile. One eyebrow rose more than the other and the corners of his lips turned up oh so slightly.

"Yeah, that one, hot stuff!"

When Wufei and Hilde returned to the house with the bottle of wine she insisted they buy, the house had filled with five more of the Sweeper's team. Dinner was served, as were several rounds of drinks, and river tales told. All Heero and Duo exchanged were hungry gazes, in spite of the food. By the time Hilde shooed the excess hangers-on away, the invalids were nodding off. Trowa remained on the couch, but Duo was settled on piles of blankets, next to Heero. Wufei arranged his "bed" a little further off, although the he needn't have bothered. Heero and Duo kept their feelings for one another platonic, respectful, and chaste, from all outward appearances. Still, Heero remained restless.

"Go take a bath; you'll sleep better," Wufei hissed. "Your ceaseless noise-making is keeping me awake."

Heero agreed and slipped out from under the blanket and crept to the door. "A cold one would help the most," Wufei added.

And then he realized he said that wearing his sexy smile.

(o)

The next day, Heero headed out to the loading docks and freight storage before dawn. He found the foreman and determined that the tobacco shipment would be a week late. That meant he needn't bother stopping by again before that time.

He walked through town looking for a few items. There was no way he would carry the Cajun around anymore, so he purchased a sturdy crutch for Trowa's use, and on a whim, wandered along a cobbled street lined with street merchants and panhandlers. Heero thought it resembled Sublimity's Saturday Market, reduced to a single street. There, he purchased some bread, cheese, and, strangely, fresh apricots from a woman hawking her wares from a hand basket.

When he returned, the boys said their final goodbyes to Hilde and Howard at the house, thanking them profusely, and promising to return and visit soon. Hilde's eyes glistened with moisture, but she stood strong.

"Y'all take good care of one another and come back soon."

"Next week I have a tobacco load to pick up," Heero said.

"I shall accompany him," Wufei announced. His eyes were on Hilde the entire time.

"Of course you will. He needs ya now that Duo's all gimpy. And you're all gallant and all." She broke out into a grin. "Aw, c'mon and gimme a hug, all of you!"

Heero's hug was stiff and brief. Trowa's sincere with a whispered word or two. Duo gave her a one-armed squeeze, "See ya when I can." But Wufei's embrace lasted the longest.

As they walked and hobbled to Heero's flatboat, Duo nudged Wufei. "Hey, that looked pretty chummy back there."

Wufei glared hotly, but Duo looked to be already melting in the sun so it hardly mattered. "That's all right. Hilde's a pretty classy little lady, actually. From money. Old money, but her mum died, and then her dad became a drunkard so she ran off. She took her fortune with her and bought this house and a boat. Howard took her under his wing."

"Like he did you."

"Yeah," Duo said, "For all I know she's got more stashed away, but more likely she's supporting the rest of the Sweepers' business."

"It would explain Howard releasing you and keeping a woman, even a strong one like her."

"That's one way of looking at it, yeah." Duo's eyes slid to the side and he ran his fingers through his damp bangs. "I guess it must seem pretty insulting to you for a guy to be passed over for a girl, huh?"

Wufei shrugged. "For anyone but Miss Hilde. She is an exceptional woman."

"Chang! Give me a hand here!" Heero shouted.

It took Heero and Wufei both to get Trowa on the boat without collapsing. Walking with a crutch was hard and he was still weak. He settled heavily on the floor of the boat with his back to the cabin and his knapsack on his lap and groaned. He didn't even check on his small skiff tied up beside. Heero took that as a sign of how unfit the guy really was and felt bad for him. Duo moved slowly, bending his bruised ribs as little as possible and with his injured arm cradled in a sling.

"Where's Winner's chest of bullion?" Wufei asked.

"De anchor fo my skiff?" Trowa said, bemused. "Under de water."

"I was going to cut the rope and leave it," Heero said, motioning with his knife.

"No!" Wufei shouted. "Don't do that!"

"Why--?" Heero just shook his head. "Then you pull it up."

Wufei gestured toward the on-board winch. "Why not use that?"

Because it took time and Heero wanted to go; he didn't even have to explain. But Wufei was determined to return the valuable trunk and its worthless contents to Quatre, because he had made him a promise and he was a man of his word. Honor and all that, blah, blah, blah.

So Heero helped him detach the rope from Trowa's skiff and attach it to the wench. Then they cranked, and cranked and the load rose by means of the rope wound around the cylinder. When the chest broke the surface, the dead weight made it hard to maneuver onto the boat. Trowa and Duo held the winch handle, so the rope didn't slip and to support the weight while Wufei and Heero manhandled the strongbox to the floor of the boat.

"You know, Quatre will just laugh at you for schlepping that piece of shit back to him," Duo said.

"I made a promise," Wufei said and turned away, ready to leave.

This meant that after settling Duo and Trowa at the tiller and tossing Wufei one pole Heero had only to push off with the other long pole, and they were on their way. It was upstream all the way, but it was in the direction of home, making the work lighter somehow.

Wufei found the rhythm of the work good for thinking, and his thoughts migrated to the young woman who had captured his imagination. Of course, she wasn't the right woman for him. Hilde was too independent, too boyish, and yet completely unforgettable. He sighed. He liked the tingly excitement he felt around her. And when he wasn't with her, Wufei felt a contentment that made him invulnerable. It was as if Hilde had dressed him in invisible, invincible armor. He imagined himself like a dragon and the miles swept past.

Lunch was a quick break in a shady cove. Wufei dove into the beer, which had been chilling in the water by the side of the boat. No one turned down a dripping bottle of refreshment. Heero cut slices off the loaf and cheese wedge and handed them out with an apricot apiece.

"Like a baby's bottom," Duo cooed as he rubbed the fuzzy fruit against his cheek.

Wufei snorted. "Disgusting imagery."

"Or your girlfriend's—" Duo whispered.

"My what?"

"You heard. You and Hilde were torching up the place."

Wufei turned away and bit savagely into his bread.

"I'll bet she asked you about your mother on that private little walk you took last night."

"What makes you say that?"

"She did, didn't she? What did ya tell her? Tell me that, and I'll tell ya why."

"I don't see why I'm playing your game, but since there is nothing for me to be ashamed of … well, I told her my mother was a virtuous woman whose memories I preserve with the greatest honor. She supported my scholastic endeavors against the will of my father, who wanted nothing more than for me to be a captain in the army. I regard her highly, and, now that she is gone, I must live up to her estimation of me with distinction."

Duo absorbed what he said, then asked, "Wanna know why she asked? Well, Hilde once told me that you can always tell how a man will treat his woman by the way he treats his mother, the first woman in is life. And, you, Wu-man, just passed the test with flying colors!"

"Finish eating," Heero said in a flat tone of voice. "It'll only get hotter or start raining as we sit here."

Lunch break was over. The sun was hot and the humidity climbed. Trowa pulled his hat over his face, made a pillow of his knapsack, and dozed. Duo fell asleep listening to the slapping of the waves on the sides of the boat after dotting himself with more of Wufei's bug-be-gone salve. Heero and Wufei made it a contest, exercising strenuously to make record time upstream to home.

When the two invalids awoke hours later, Heero and Wufei were already unloading the pelts and furs in Sublimity. A summer shower made the job more difficult, but with their home dock minutes away, no one complained.

(o)

Wufei's letter had proudly announced their good news, having bested the pirates (relieving Quatre's worst fears); mentioned their delay due to injuries, although none life-threatening (for which Quatre was thankful); noted in passing that Heero had picked up another 'bounder,' on the lam from Dekim Barton's gang (who sounded fantastically exciting to Quatre); and warned him of further delays due to one final stop at the tannery before coming home (which was a problem so inconsequential that Quatre dismissed Wufei's concern outright). This information, however, allowed Quatre to approximate their time of arrival. In order to be on time to greet his friends and welcome them all home (plus this new edgy _parvenu_ character they were bringing along), though, required more precise information. So, he stationed a messenger boy on horseback at the tannery, who was to ride to the estate and tell him when Heero's boat was sighted.

_They should be only minutes away now. _ As Quatre waited at the dock with a carriage, he mused upon the condition of his friends, and the newcomer, the mysterious stranger. What would he be like? They wouldn't bring anyone home they didn't like, and Quatre trusted Duo's taste; he'd found Heero, after all! He spotted the boat, flew from the carriage, and ran to the dock, waving deliriously.

"Oh, dear!" He took one look at Trowa in his manly deerskin coat and smiled. "Hello!" He hoped to God that the man was a homosexual.

"Yo, Quat!"

"Duo, you look terrible. How do you feel? I'm so sorry you were hurt. This was all my fault, suggesting that silly pirate-killing mission."

Heero interrupted Quatre's rambling chatter. "Winner, you needn't have come to meet us."

Wufei added his own comment. "In my note I suggested meeting tomorrow. I'm not up to anything but rest right now."

"I know, that's why I'm here… Oh, my—" Whatever Quatre had been about to say was wiped from his mind. A warm hand covered his. The handsome stranger with the long fall of caramel hair covering one side of his face, masking him in mystery, offered him a handshake.

"'Lo. Ah'm Trowa Barton, at you're service, _s'il vous plais_."

Quatre swallowed. The light caught the man's visible eye just right and it sparkled like an emerald in the sand. "_Ah, je fais_!" Quatre whispered as he stepped forward and helped him from the boat with a strong hand. "Well, now. I'm Winner Raberba Winner and I'll accept your service, _anytime_."

Trowa blinked. Quatre hadn't meant that to sound as forward as it came out (or had he?), but it was too late to take it back. Heero busied himself with tying up the flatboat and gathering the stray papers. Duo grinned and probably would have said something embarrassing had Heero not shoved the knapsacks into his face. "Take these."

Wufei cleared his throat. "You've met. Good. Here, you can have this piece of tonnage back," Wufei said. He pointed to the chest of faux gold and then lugged one half of the strongbox onto the dock with Heero handling the other side.

"Thanks for returning the bullion." Quatre patted the box and opened it. "It's all here. Great! I really didn't want to lose it."

Heero pushed his way forward, coming to a stop inches from Quatre. "It's not real."

"Oh, but it is! You see, I hadn't time to get fake bricks made."

Wufei sputtered in Chinese something to the effect of "How horrible it was to think that a fortune in gold could have slipped into the water, or, worse yet, been sent to the bottom of the river on purpose just to relieve them of the weight!" but peppered liberally with what Quatre assumed to be curses and expletives in his native tongue.

"You didn't know?" Heero asked Wufei, obviously angry.

"NO!"

"Aw, don't go pulling an attitude, 'Fei," Duo said as he knelt by the gold.

"I'm sorry," Quatre began at once, "I tried to fix up a few fake bricks, but the coating just pealed off. A-and we had it all planned and timed so carefully! It was too late to make up convincing replicas. I couldn't have backed out, could I? Anyway, I didn't tell Wufei the truth because I didn't actually want him or any of you to risk your lives for just gold. And you would have, wouldn't you?"

Duo drooled over the shining, gold spectacle before him. "If I can keep one, just one, I'll give you anything." He embraced what he could of the bullion and rubbed his cheek across the cool surfaces. "Um-mm."

Heero yanked him to his feet by his good arm. "No, you won't. Think again. Dammit, Winner get that shit out of my sight."

"Sorry. I should have told you," Quatre said quietly and closed the lid.

"Yes, you should have. It's my boat."

"Then let me make it up to you." Quatre took one handle, pulled (it didn't budge), and looked up, coloring slightly. "Ah, but first, I could use a hand with this."

When Trowa made a lame attempt at hobbling over to help, Wufei nearly knocked him off his feet in a huff. "I'll get that."

Heero had to lend them a hand to lift and finally carry the dead weight to the carriage. "If you are done, I'd like to see my house."

By this time, Quatre Winner concluded that the little fishing cottage was far too small to house three men, especially the tall, lanky man in the buckskin coat with the long, swingy fringe. _Yum. _No, that beaten down little couch in the front room wouldn't do at all, what with the lame leg. Besides, he'd require nursing and Heero, nice as he was, would not be up to the task.

Quatre felt ready to take on any mission. "I don't want to hear any excuses, you included, Wufei. You have nothing to eat." Quatre swung about and looked at the open-mouthed Duo. "Ruggles and Lucifer are in my barn. The storm was terrifying so Todd collected them." He raised a hand and took on Heero last (Trowa would put up no arguments, Quatre guessed.) "I have rooms ready, beds made up, and dinner waiting. I want to hear everything. And I know you're tired." Still, being the polite host, he turned to the handsome new face and extended his invitation. "Trowa, you must stay at my place. I have oodles of space."

"He's not pulling your chain, either. It's a honking, bad-ass place," Duo said, his voice muffled from inside the carriage.

Trowa stood shaking his head in disbelief. "And dey say _**I**_ talk funny! Yes, I'll stay de night and accept your hos-pi-tal-i-ty. _Merci, Monsieur _Winner."

Duo was in the carriage before Quatre got past the "nothing to eat" part. Heero gave up and hopped in beside him before Trowa got the same idea. Wufei didn't look like he could have walked to the end of the dock, much less all the way to his own home. Quatre could recognize exhaustion when it stared him in the face, and was relieved when Wufei climbed aboard without a gripe. The driver assisted Trowa and his crutch into a seat, Quatre jammed himself next to him with an unapologetic smile, and they set off.

It was after teatime when they finally skirted the Watergardens property and dusk was coming on. They could hear water coursing. The countryside was full of rills and springs so that after a rain, there were parts of the land that turned into ballets of water: tiny falls into larger streams; streams into great forces; water flowing into ponds, lakes and eventually the Rogue river which emptied hundreds of miles away into a great sea.

"Rashid! Please, get Amid to take care of the bullion later. I need you to assist Mr. Barton to a room where he can clean up. Oh, yes, thank you, Rashid. Mr. Maxwell can use your assistance, too."

With professional ease, the guests were bustled into the house, cleaned up, and put to rest in a cool, downstairs sitting room awaiting the evening meal.

(o)

Trowa sat down in an armchair and felt the relief in his back. He hadn't known how tired he was until he sat down. He looked across the room through the crystal-cut picture window at some forest scene and a wall. Only part of the house could be seen; the rest was obscured by oceans of flower gardens and the woodland in front and the mountains rising behind. But what woods and mountains! He had glimpsed the property many times, but never dreamed he'd be inside as a guest of its owner. And Quatre Winner was no easy man to dismiss.

"Now, I want to know everything about your adventure," Quatre began, his eye flashing with excitement. "But first, have you received medical assistance for your injuries?"

"Yes!" Trowa and Duo along with Heero and Wufei answered in chorus.

"Sorry! I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Is dinner gonna take much longer?" Duo asked.

"Not at all," Quatre said to Duo. "You're not too bad off if appetite is any indication," Quatre said with added warmth this time. "So, tell me about the pirates. Were they where we expected? How many?"

"He's always this way," Duo whispered when Trowa began to chuckle.

"The pirate's hid their boat roughly where we expected it to be, but did not launch an attack until miles further where they lured us closer. How, is not important. Let's just say—"

Duo interrupted Wufei. "If it hadn't been for my instincts, we would have been trapped in shallower water or even landed."

Wufei fanned the air. "Possibly, but the point is, if there hadn't been a storm, we would have out run them and made it into Serendipity first. As it was—"

Duo piped up again. "Howard, Hilde, and the rest of the Sweepers, not to mention our bud, 'Tro, here, saved our asses."

"I see," said Quatre, turning to look at Trowa. "You arrived with the Sweepers, then?"

"Around de same time, but not de same route."

"He was spying on the boat at the wharf in Tumbletown. When pressed, it seemed to me—"

Duo interrupted Wufei for the third time in a row. "He warned me. Word about our gold delivery was out."

As he lit each of the oil lamps in the room, Quatre blue eyes caught the light. When the air stirred, his wide eyes appeared to shimmer with the lively reflections. "You risked your life for total strangers?"

"I, ah—" Trowa's voice remained trapped in his throat.

"Not total, exactly," Duo went on. "Turns out, 'Tro's been on the run from Dekim's guys. He even hid out at the cabin, before I moved in. So it's all cool. He took a bullet aimed at Ro's head and 'Ro saved me from getting' my throat slit." Duo acted out the scene, sans Solo. "Silently and swiftly, his shiv found its way beneath my jaw. I stabbed at his thigh, then BAM! Heero was all over him."

"Not exactly," Heero muttered.

Not swayed, Duo continued, "He was awesome! Oh, yeah, and 'Fei awed the pirates with his mighty sword."

"And then the Sweeper's arrived—" Wufei put in.

"Yeah, 'cause I wrote Hilde 'bout the plan so she'd know," Duo said. "I wasn't taking chances getting killed—"

"Oh, certainly not," said Wufei, "not you. I suppose when you were jumping aboard the attacking ship and going after the leader alone, that was all carefully planned out and risk-free?"

"Not exactly," Duo gestured with one hand then started twisting his braid tie. "I didn't know that was the leader."

Trowa heard Heero's intake of breath, a hiss, moments before the man spun Duo's chair around to face him.

"You recognized the man. You intentionally went after… Solo because you knew him—and you didn't bother to tell me!"

"Not… no… You're reading too much into this," Duo said.

"Certainly too much intelligent thought and premeditation," Wufei muttered.

"I mean. I wasn't gonna start shooting into a crowd and hit you or 'Fei, so I moved up to gimme some space. When I got close in, I saw him."

"Solo."

"Yeah, Solo."

"You knew who he was."

"Not at first. Hell, I hadn't seen the guy for a couple years and what with the rain and all. But it was the gold tooth that did it."

Trowa looked at Wufei, who shook his head and looked at Heero. "What gold tooth?" Heero asked.

"Oh, the missing one. He had one when I knew him, then he got in this fight protecting me, sorta, and it got knocked out. I, ah, kept it for the longest time, but had to sell it to eat and all…" Duo's voice trailed off.

"Then you must have been very close to the pirate, this… Solo… man, and that's when you saw the missing tooth," Quatre summarized.

"Yeah, but by that time it was too late to warn Heero or anybody, and I was outta ammo, so I tried to tell him who I was, maybe strike a deal and get him to back off. But when I got close enough for him to hear my voice over the storm, he grabbed me. And that's when I went for my knife. So did he, but lucky for me, 'Ro saved me, and Tro' him."

Quatre folded his arms over his chest with a sigh. "I hate to think what you would have done had you known the gold you were delivering was real." He smiled at Trowa. "What would they have done without you? And I feel so responsible for your getting hurt."

The door opened and the hulking, dark presence of Rashid filled the doorway. "Dinner is served, sir."

Trowa didn't know quite what to say to that. In fact, he didn't know what to say to Quatre Winner. "Ah, you shouldn't. You couldn't have foreseen—"

"But I feel your pain. Let me help you," Quatre said. "I think you'll like the food here."

Trowa had no choice but to let the young, handsome master of the house wrap an arm around him and support him all the way to the dining table. He had to admit he'd had worse helpers before.

As he passed them, Wufei whispered to Quatre, "You know the way to a man's heart is not necessarily through his stomach."

Trowa was stunned. He didn't know his feelings sent shock waves crashing onto Quatre's sensitive psyche. Trowa was even more confused when Quatre's wayward lurch nearly caused him to lose his balance as he whispered, "be still, my heart."

End Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Ten**

Trowa, Heero, Quatre, Duo in another POV trade-off

* * *

There was little dinner conversation at Quatre's table beyond the necessary and polite; the young men were too busy eating, so it gave Trowa a chance to take in his surroundings. Trowa had seen grandeur before, but never lived in it. Rather than look like the hick he felt – as if he'd been _muddin' in the gator pits the night befo_-- he copied the others, kept his head down, and blended in silently. Fitting in. He had got it countless times on the run. It was something he was good at. As he listened to the friends exchange pleasantries he longed to be included. Being so quickly accepted into their circle surprised him, but also made him feel like a voyeur. He wondered if that was a contradiction? 

Immediately on finishing the last delicious course, however, Quatre announced that they should all have a good talk. He stood ready to lead the way to the gentlemen's drawing room.

"I'll juss excuse myself to my room, den," Trowa said in a low voice. "Give you an' your friends a chance to catch up."

"Oh, pul-eeze," Wufei drawled as he pushed ahead of them. "You're the new person of interest here. Not only have you added spice to your life- sometimes you've added side dishes."

Trowa's jaw dropped an inch before he tightened it back into position. Duo burst into ripples of laughter, and Heero pressed ahead, murmuring "move it" or "settle down" or just his usual inarticulate "hn".

Quatre narrowed his eyes in Chang's direction as he placed a warm hand lightly on Trowa's elbow, offering to help him walk. "Ignore Wufei. Unless you are terribly uncomfortable, I'd love you to join us and get to know you better."

That hand checked his movements, anchoring him in place. All his attention fell onto Quatre. He had not expected anyone like him. A gentleman, but very tactile and intelligent. And beautiful. He avoided eye contact to hide the desire from shining through.

"Yeah, 'Tro, five's a lucky number," Duo hooted. "As in five card stud."

Trowa shook his head. "Okay. I give up." He watched everyone take a seat, assuming the friends had time-worn places into which he didn't wish to intrude.

"So, who owns that other fancy-ass castle you can see for miles around? Some kind of royalty?" Duo asked as he sank into soft chair. Duo rearranged his position, resting his weight on his good arm and limited bending in the middle to a minimum, and then he smiled. As painful as his injuries must have been, Duo never complained and even managed to have a cheery outlook.

Heero wore his ever-present scowl and leaned on the window behind the overstuffed chair incubating his primary interest, which was Duo. Wufei, normally a prickly, bold-eyed man, appeared drained as he threw himself into the matching chair.

"Mr. Barton, you must sit here and put your feet up," Quatre beckoned.

Trowa's eyes flitted over the other young man's gentle features and nodded, "merci." He limped stiff-legged to a settee, where he sprawled out with his bandaged leg raised. Trowa thought Quatre was a man who would always look younger than his chronological age. This image of youth was helped along by his eyes, when they expressed an almost child-like wonder, and his wheat-colored hair cut untidily long, which he kept scraping away at his forehead.

Quatre offered everyone a drink, which was uniformly declined.

"If I knocked back a drink after all that food, I'd conk out for good," Duo chuckled. He didn't appear bothered by the fact that Quatre hadn't answered his question yet, as if he knew the other man was filing through the possibilities, narrowing the choices, and selecting the ones of interest to present when his host duties had been fulfilled. Trowa could tell Duo was intuitively bright and Wufei book-smart, but Quatre was a bit of both. More than a bit.

Trowa lit a cigarette, but couldn't keep his eyes off of the well-mannered blond. He watched as the young heir to the estate moved close, almost touching him, and opened the window. Trowa caught a wisp of musk and some flower scent. _Soap? Perfume?_ When Quatre pushed the drawing room door ajar, the breeze drew the smoke out-of-doors in a long, moist sigh. _Was that scent coming from the man's clothes_, he wondered?

"Well, Princess Relena Darlian has a country estate not far away," Quatre said.

"Naw, not that one," Duo said, waving away the idea with his hand. "Bigger, more of a fortress."

"You must mean the summer home of Lieutenant Merquise," Quatre said. "He's having a summer fete there next weekend. I'll have to check the calendar." His voice trailed off and he looked thoughtful, but Trowa didn't think he was having a problem recalling the date. Quatre, he believed, was making plans.

"Zechs Merquise? A mere half-prince," Wufei said, relegating Princess Relena Darlian's half-brother to the title scrap heap.

"And a war hero. You can't forget that," Duo reminded him.

Wufei could and did. "Now, Governor Treize Khushrenada—"

"A merer baron." Trowa stumped out his cigarette. Competing with Chang at pushing bits of arcana about like driftwood along the river, Trowa cut across Khushrenada's baronetcy, saying, "None of dem matter as long as Dermail is Duke an' Khushrenada tinks he must be in league wid Dekim Barton to buy 'im out."

Before Wufei could jump to Khushrenada's defense—which he was certain to do again-- Quatre said, "The governor and Barton have history _and_ blood in common."

Wufei became rigid, fully alert, and his eyes flashed with interest. "Gossip?"

"Scandalous, but in this case, true." Quatre snickered. "It's not widely known outside his circle."

"Sins of the rich and infamous," Duo supplied.

"Well, if you don't want to know—"

"Damnit, Winner! Of course we want to know. _Tell,_" Wufei demanded.

Quatre smiled. Trowa thought he looked pleased-- no, devilishly pleased-- at how he got a rise out of the stuffy Chinese man. Chang Wufei, ostracized head of the Chang Clan and gossipmonger, too. Now, Trowa smiled, but he hid it while lighting another cigarette.

"It was through Treize's illicit love affair with Leia that Mariemaia was born."

"Who's Leia?" Duo asked as he disguised a yawn.

"Leia Barton was Dekim Barton's daughter," Quatre said. He let that information sink in a moment, caught Chang's blazing gaze, and then continued. "This occurred during the war and the story goes: Treize stepped into the line of fire and was injured while protecting his soldiers, which included a younger Lucrezia Noin (Zechs' wife, since you'd brought his name up earlier)."

Heero spoke up. "Sally Po told me a story like that once, but I thought it was a girl named Lisa who was working as a nurse with her when she met Khushrenada."

"No,_Leia_," Quatre said. "Incontestable truth, I swear! While recuperating in a field station, Treize met Leia Barton who was helping tend to his injuries. The two formed a connection based on mutual attraction and respect."

"Respect, huh? I'll bet," Duo said with a snort, and they all laughed. "So what happened to Leia? You ever meet her or her kid, 'Tro?"

"No." Trowa shook his head. "Musta happened befo' my time. Dere was a girl, Middie, who was adopted like me." His throat tightened as he breathed out some smoke, and he looked away through a scrim of tobacco fumes-- his personal smoke screen. He didn't want to think about her.

"Leia died shortly after giving birth," Quatre said. "So, there's no reason you would have known her, if you'd been adopted after that. Maybe you filled a void in his life?"

As those big, hope-filled eyes met his, Trowa knew he couldn't explain just how unlikely it was that he'd filled any emotional needs of Dekim's. _Ever_. He shrugged instead, and asked, "Do you know w'at happened to de chil'?"

"Lady Une, the governor's current lady friend, adopted Mariemaia," Quatre said.

"I've seen her at his residence, when I've been invited… for fencing." Wufei coughed, embarrassed at his admission. "I didn't know who she was, of course."

Trowa couldn't guess why he should be uncomfortable telling them about his fencing, unless he hadn't been competing with steel swords. That made him smile as he recalled Hilde's flirting with the proud Chinese clansman. This time he hid his face behind a shank of hair and a hand.

Duo barked out a laugh. "That's so cool. Think about it. If Mariemaia is really Treize Khushrenada's daughter with Leia Barton, then Trowa here's Mariemaia's uncle."

"Not by blood," Trowa hastily pointed out, losing what little smile he had in an instant.

Wufei stared at Trowa. "Just a minute. Now I remember my former chain of thought."

"Lose a link or two?" Duo asked.

"Maxwell," Wufei growled, "shut up for a minute. Trowa, what did you mean when you said Treize would lower himself to use trash like Barton to buy him out. Buy _who_ out of _what_?" Wufei asked.

"De crown."

"You can buy a crown?" Duo asked.

"A dukedom, yes. Khushrenada is a very wealthy man, but it would take more than he has now to buy himself a dukedom," said Quatre.

"And he's about to become richer still," Trowa said.

Four pairs of eyes riveted to his. Here was news, real news, the kind only he would know. What they all needed to know.

"How so?" Wufei asked.

"Have you heard about de motors dat run on steam?" Trowa's voice sweet and rich as molasses coated the room in its honeyed tone.

Quatre waved his hand in the air, clearing a path. "Rumors. The business world runs on rumors."

"An' deez motors, dey run on steam. Dekim believes dis one. Just before I left, he was talkin' 'bout usin' steam to power boats. He predicted de spread of steamboat travel. Anyone involved in river trade or travel, well, dey be very excited to control steam power, attaching it to a boat."

"Moving against the current," Heero put in, as if he just woke up.

Trowa tagged on, "at five to ten miles an hour."

Quatre straightened, his excess excitement agitating the air around him. Trowa could feel the hair on his arms tingling. Even his heart quickened to keep pace.

"To think, if it were possible?!" Quatre said. "Steamboats would usher in a new era! The potential for combined speed and comfort would mean people would travel extensively and the boost to interior commerce is unimaginable!"

"Flatboats. They made this place. They'd be gone within a year." Heero sighed. "To compete, everyone would need the know-how and machinery."

"Yeah, and you can bet being on the bleeding edge would be damned expensive and put us small guys out of business," Duo said. "It doesn't take much."

"True, it happened to the ferryman," said Heero.

"What ferryman?" Duo asked. "There's lots of them."

"Wear's Ferry."

"Oh, this is a good tale, Heero. What do you know of it? This was before we were born." Quatre asked. He settled himself on the edge of the settee, nearly in contact with Trowa's feet.

Heero paced. "There were no major bridges across the Rogue River, so the only way to cross was to make use of one of several ferries along the river, including the barges. Wear's Ferry was one of the earliest of these crossings. It's been replaced, but the old workings are still there."

"You've seen them?" Duo asked.

Trowa was amused at how Duo and Quatre worked to get the reticent speaker to talk. He watched Wufei examine his hands and rub the reddened knuckles. He must have been hurting, but dared not complain out of pride. No amount of fencing could prepare a man for days of poling a barge, and no amount of good breeding could support that much pain for long. He reminded himslef to stay far away from Chang when he finally broke down.

Heero nodded with a serious expression, and when he continued with his explanation, his voice was flat, nothing like the animated Duo. "I've studied how it worked. It was propelled by wires run through pulleys on each side of the river. A wooden stick notched to hook through a loop in the cable was the usual method an operator used to move the ferry. Wear used horse power, so it was the fastest. The crossing, in most cases, took about ten minutes. Wear had so much business that a grist mill and a saw mill began operating at the site, and a village grew — known as Tumbletown."

"Yeah? So what happened?" Duo asked.

"Somebody built a bridge."

"Some…**Barton**, maybe?"

"I don't know."

"I think that was before Dekim Barton's rise to power," Quatre said.

"I'll look that up. Facts of that nature are stored in public records in the library," Wufei offered. "Bridge building is expensive."

"And Sublimity back then had already become the main shipping hub and business center in the mid region with our own doctor, hatter's shop, hemp factory, wagon factory, cabinet shop, and silversmith. The Norwood Inn was an important stopover for merchants," Quatre smiled at Trowa, and then added, "traders, and men seeking to carve out a fortune."

"It still is," Heero said.

"Right. And the ferry was important, especially to the inn."

"It still is, even though it has a different operator these days."

"Right."

"I know there's no bridge now. I would have noticed something like that. What happened to it?" Wufei asked.

Quatre stood and smoothed his pale vest and slacks. Trowa noted the expensive cut and materials, but mostly he admired the man underneath and imagined what his slender form would feel like beneath him. His voice cut through his dreams. "No one was more thrilled that the owners of the Norwood Inn when the big flood ripped down the bridge."

"So it took an act to nature to bring it down? No public outrage against it?" Wufei asked.

Quatre smiled. "I wonder. The uprights might have been weakened at some point, by human intervention."

"Who owned the inn?" Duo asked.

"Same family that does today, the Noin's, as in Lucrezia Noin." Quatre folded his hands.

"Back to her and Merquise," Duo said, yawning massively. "You sure are down with the haps, Quat. My head's for shit with all these names and intrigues. I think you folks oughta move around more. Ya know, meet new faces?"

"You are nearly asleep," Heero said. "I think Trowa knocked off an hour ago."

"Not true," Trowa mumbled from the chair where he'd collapsed. "Resting my eyes."

Quatre tugged on a silken cord pull. "We can continue this tomorrow."

Seconds later his man, Rashid, shimmered into the room. "May I assist Master's friends to their rooms?"

"I think Mr. Barton needs help getting upstairs," Quatre said.

To Trowa's surprise, the big man swept him off his chair and carried him in his arms out the door and up the wide stairs. Before being the next to suffer that indignity, Duo hopped to his feet, eyes wide, crying out, "I'm okay! I can walk all by myself!"

(o)

Heero closed the door behind him. Duo had left his shoes inside the door and was already shrugging off his shirt, so Heero moved closer while watching the progress with interest. He never tired of looking at Duo Maxwell. Heero was struck with the overwhelming desire to touch the exposed skin. The nearest shoulder was injury free and, when he massaged the smooth skin, warm.

Then, Duo met his gaze. He smiled, and then Duo's eyes left his to stare Heero's hand. Heero followed his eyes, confirming that his senses hadn't also betrayed him and that his hand was in fact even there. One quick glance provided confirmation, and so he slid the hand adventurously down Duo's bare chest to his stomach. He brushed just under the band of his pants, exploring the possibilities, sensing that this contact was purposeful, not accidental. After noticing Duo's obvious arousal, Heero's tentative examination trekked back up his body to rejoin his eyes in a trance that was sending new communications. _What did Duo want from him?_

There was a tap at the door. Heero's hand snapped back to his side. "What?"

"Maxwell. Let me in."

"Chang?"

Heero stepped to the door and pushed it ajar. Wufei kicked it further with his foot. His hands were full.

"I have the fresh bandages and an herb potion far better than what that quack in town gave you." His eyes met Heero's and he ducked, avoiding a glare destined to numb his brain. "Yuy, you are here? That look is totally unnecessary. Make yourself useful and take my bag while I remove his—"

"I can take off my own wrapping here, jeez," Duo said. To prove it, he tore away at the linen strips, exposing his bullet wound. The skin was bruised around the darkened hole, but there was no sign of infection. "I ain't no baby."

Wufei dipped a clean rag in a bowl of infused Chinese herbs then swabbed the skin around the wound.

"Ugh."

"Ugly, but clean. You'll live. So, what do you make of all this talk?"

"Steam powered boats, Treize's illegitimate kid or his playing ball with Barton, or something else? We talked about a lot of crap," Duo answered.

"We must stop Dekim Barton," Heero said, choosing one topic. He was embarrassed not to have thought of Duo's needs before Wufei had, and was glad for the diversionary conversation. "That's all there is to it."

"How? His mercenaries are ruthless, well-armed, and, sadly, good at what they do."

Heero took aim with an imaginary gun. "So am I."

"I think we'll have to be a great deal more creative than that," Wufei said with doubting sniff.

Heero wasn't so sure. "Hn."

And after that inscrutable comment, Wufei finished swabbing the wound with a little more vigor than required.

Duo winced. "Lighten up! That's flesh and blood."

"There. You can put on that doctor's salve," Wufei made a face, "which is made of bear urine in lard, or use this."

Duo chose the second, a pale green paste. "This from your bag?"

"Yes."Wufei appeared pleased, dabbed on the medicated ointment, and wrapped Duo's arm with clean gauze to cover the wound. "That is sufficient for tonight. Winner will have his own doctor here to check your progress tomorrow, I imagine."

"Ah, shit," Duo groaned and lay back onto the bed. "No doctors. I like your stuff; Trowa's stash is good, too."

Heero walked Wufei to the door, but didn't leave. "Thanks. Good night." He closed the door behind him and rejoined Duo. "He's practically glowing from your compliments, you know that."

Duo smiled, eyes closed. "Good." He wriggled into his pillows and tucked one arm behind his head.

Heero picked up the end of Duo's braid thinking how alluring the man looked. He brushed the palm of his hand and stared into Duo's eyes. He wasn't going to leave, but he wanted to hear Duo ask him to stay.

"So--?" Duo asked, his lids lowered and his mouth turned up into a sly smile. "It's been awhile."

"You want me to lie here with you?"

"Hm, huh."

Heero sure did, too, even if he was exhausted. Heero stripped off his clothes and helped Duo remove what was remaining of his. He had seen it all before, but now Duo was his to enjoy. Touching his bare skin was an exquisite torture. He wanted Duo to stroke him, too. Duo sighed and let Heero stretch out full-length beside him.

"If my chest wasn't bruised, if my arm weren't throbbing, if I wasn't so fuckin' drained, I'd--" Duo explained.

"You would act on everything your mind was suggesting?" Heero guessed.

"Yeah." Instead, Duo lay motionless and let Heero run his fingers over his chest.

"Do you like this?"

Duo hissed through clenched teeth. "Yes."

"Just be still, then. Slow down."

"Slow down? Shit. If I slow down any more I'll be in a coma."

"I meant your imagination." Heero leaned in and kissed him.

Heero felt Duo melt into him. His brain misted over in a haze of sensations, all good. He parted his lips and tickled Duo's with his tongue. When Duo's tongue met his, Heero sucked it inside his mouth. Heero groaned and slid over his body partway, avoiding putting his weight on the sore ribs. When a palm, not his, pressed against his growing erection, he moaned—all need.

(o)

"You speak a dialect of French, Mr. Barton?" Quatre asked. He had accompanied Trowa, in the arms of Rashid, to his room. This guest room was on the same floor as the others and only a few doors down from Wufei's.

"Just Trowa. Barton conjures up de o'der man."

"Okay, Trowa, if you call me Quatre."

"Quatre. D'at's de number four."

"And I was born in the L4 sector." Quatre perched himself on the edge of Trowa's bed after Rashid left the room and leaned forward to ask his question. "Isn't that a coincidence?"

"Could be."

"Ummm. Are you married? Is there someone waiting for word about you? A loved one? Someone we should notify?"

"No one at all."

"Me neither!" Quatre said with cheer and a general air of bonhomie.

"Liar. Your family is famous," Trowa said without malice. He frowned slightly, fighting back laughter, and then drew a deep breath. _Musk and some flower. _

_Slow down, slow down!_ Trowa chastised himself. He tried not to pull the beautiful boy into a kiss. He had never fallen so hard and so fast, but, damn, the young "master" was hot. And he was staring at him. Had he shouted aloud?

"I had my school room French. Let's see… as Proust would say, _'N'allez pas trop vite_.'"

Trowa shrugged, thinking that he must have shouted something. "It means 'go slowly' or 'be precise'-- something like that."

"Yes," Quatre whispered. Trowa could have sworn he was acting provocative on purpose. "The advantage of not going too fast is that the world has a better chance of becoming more interesting in the process. And more interesting is almost always more fun. _N'est pas_?"

Trowa licked his lips. _Mais qui… _He was definitely taking a shine to this captivating, young Master Winner.

(o)

Wufei knocked on the door to the room he believed was Trowa's. He hadn't been surprised to find Heero in Duo's room. Those two were bound to end up in bed together. His self-satisfied smile grew as he recalled his pivotal role in making it happen. That river rat was overly cautious and dense. He was lucky to have a friend like himself who noticed important things, like the Cajun's interest in mouthy kid with the braid. He knocked again.

"Barton? I'll just let myself in, then," he shouted. "I have your change of bandage."

Wufei hadn't expected Quatre to open the door. "Yes? Oh, Wufei. What is it?"

Wufei explained. "This is Barton's room, is it not?"

"Yes. I was seeing to his comfort." Quatre winked; Wufei was sure he saw him wink.

"His health comes first."

"Of course." Quatre wasn't leaving. "I'd like to assist, if you don't mind, Trowa?"

"_Non_," the Cajun replied.

Wufei felt like the unwelcome intruder. He set out his cleaning supplies, bandages, and salves. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Quatre's neatly manicured fingers made quick work of the loose, torn pants and the wrappings over the wound.

"The bullet just missed a major artery, didn't it?" Quatre asked.

Wufei could just make out Quatre's smooth-skin pointer finger trace along Trowa's thigh where the slug missed. Wufei pretended not to see gooseflesh appear or hear Trowa's sharp intake of air. When he did look up, Trowa's cheeks were blazing. Since they weren't a moment ago, he suspected the man wasn't suffering a temperature.

_There was more than one way to cause mercury to spike, _Wufei thought. He cleaned the wound, carefully avoiding adding to the injury. "The stitches appear tight but not puckery or inflamed. I think you are healing well. Would you like the bear piss or my--"

"Save me from de mad doctor's pastes! Please, use your own ointment."

Wufei smiled to himself as he medicated to wound, and then reapplied a fresh bandage with efficiency grown out of necessity. When he caught his friend's eyes wandering over the Cajun's torso he cleared his throat.

"Winner, a word, if you would?" he growled, then pulled him aside. "You are flirting shamelessly with that Cajun scoundrel. Did you know he gambles, too? Well, he does. We really don't know a thing about him."

"He has green eyes. Did you know that?"

Wufei narrowed his eyes. He did not like the dreamy tone of Quatre's voice. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

Quatre brushed his arm away. "I'm well aware of what's up. Now, if you are finished, Wufei, you may leave and I'll see to it that Mr. Barton gets his rest."

"You do that," Wufei growled. Quatre moved to the door to let him out, but Wufei stood his ground. "There's more. You should know that Yuy is planning to attack Dekim Barton."

"Dat would be unwise," Trowa said.

"It is his livelihood which is at stake, and retaliation for his killing Odin Lowe. He has his mind set on it."

"He's always been rather stubborn and intense." Quatre smiled, thinking Wufei was the same, and turned his head away. "Well, then, I'd better come up with a better idea. A plan. Something wholly unique that Dekim wouldn't suspect, or Khushrenada and that would stop the steam boat project, while at the same time it defeats them…" Quatre trailed off, deliberating what his choices might be.

"Duo is not so impulsive," Wufei said after some thought. "He holds sway over Yuy's drives, so hopefully he can keep him in check long enough for your planning to take effect."

"I'll need some help," Quatre said. "Zechs is hosting a party. Nothing big, but it's an opportunity to see him. He's very influential and well informed. Would you be willing to go?"

"Alone? I'm not sure what I can accomplish—" Wufei hedged.

"No, not alone. I think we shall all go. Trowa, too. To get Heero to attend will be difficult, since he would expect to meet someone he'd rather not."

"Princess Relena?"

"Yes. Do you know the story?"

"No, it was just an educated guess. I know she is Zech's sister and would be the only person I'd think of who'd be there."

Trowa's eyes met Quatre's. "I have no party clothes, nor can I dance."

"That's okay," Quatre said. "I have plenty and I hate dancing. I don't find dancing entertaining. If I want sex or exercise, I prefer it directly and in the open."

Wufei snorted.

Quatre turned his head. "And, yes, I meant to apply that rule to both, too. Are you done, Wufei?"

Wufei's face was beet red as he packed away his medical bag expeditiously. "Yes. We'll talk more in the morning."

After Wufei left the room, Quatre snapped his attention back onto Trowa. "There now, I hope you are comfortable for the night. If you need anything, use the bell pull. The servants know to listen for your call, just in case." He opened the closet. "Robe, pajamas." He removed the articles of clothing and lay them across the foot of the bed. "There's water on the bedside table. Let's see, what else--?"

Trowa cleared his throat. "I have died and gone to heaven."

Quatre laughed. "I hope not! I feel very much alive. Good night." He leaned over and kissed Trowa on the cheek, sighed, and left without looking back to see Trowa's reaction.

(o)

Duo reveled in the attention Heero gave him. He'd craved Heero's touch from the moment he'd laid eyes on him and his teenage libido kicked in. He moaned into Heero's lips, pressing his lips against his then feeling his tongue gliding across his cheek to his jaw and throat. Between that and feeling Heero's body heat sliding against him, Duo was getting incredibly turned on. Heero broke their kiss and leaned against Duo. His face was inches above his.

"Tell me something," he whispered.

"I wish I felt better," Duo admitted.

"I got this bottle of mineral oil. So, turn over."

Duo slowly rearranged himself, wincing when he twisted his ribs area the wrong way. "You'd better make this...oh...yeah...that's...oh... where? Oil?"

"I bought it in Serendipity with the cheese. It's for cutting boards." Heero slowly massaged the oil into Duo's skin working from the neck and shoulders down to the waist. "I love touching you."

"Lucky... me."

"I'm doing this right?"

"Yeah."

Heero continued to manipulate the muscles in Duo's neck and shoulders then worked his way down the good arm to the fingertips. Duo never felt so relaxed.

"Good. I can see how this is sort of how everything between us starts. Sore muscles and too much hard work. A friendly back rub that leads to a leg massage that takes us to the full body massage of now."

They were two friends that weren't afraid to show that they cared more than a little bit by breaking through the invisible "don't touch" shell in increments and touching. Heero spent a lot of time massaging Duo's back and buttocks. He used just the right amount of pressure on his thighs and calves then finished up with a mind-stunning foot and toe massage. He helped Duo to roll over, and immediately started at Duo's neck and shoulders, squeezing, pressing, and working his way down toward his toes only briefly brushing past his straining cock.

"What's the matter, Duo?" Heero asked while kneading his thigh.

"Hmm? Nothing." _Except you know what I want!_

Heero said, "You're not talking, you're not even looking me in the eye."

"I just feel so relaxed. If I look into your eyes I'm gonna lose myself entirely."

Heero finished up the left leg and started on the right thigh working his way down. "I never thought I'd feel this strongly about anyone," he confessed.

That got Duo's attention. "Come'ere."

Heero crawled over him and kissed him deeply. Duo broke their lip-lock and tried to put into words what he was feeling. "Hey, ah, this is all new to me, too."

Heero's expression was odd before he said, "I didn't know what love was. I wanted it, but I had no idea what it meant to emotionally bond with someone. I thought it was a bunch of poetic rubbish."

"Oh."

Heero looked over at him with an absolutely blank expression on his face. Duo knew that was only the tip of the iceberg; more was to come. The pain of his past was so deep, the loss of his childhood, his running, his insecurities had been all forgotten with the intrusion—no-- addition of Heero to his life. He knew what he was feeling was a love for him that was so great that Duo couldn't say anything. Apparently, Heero was stuck in the same tongue-tied place. His hands were holding Duo's sides while his feet stroked his lower legs.

After a long while of gazing into each others eyes Heero smiled and whispered, "I still don't know what I want I want more, for you to make love to me or if I should make love to you."

"Well, ah--." Duo wasn't sure he had the strength to do either, but he was game to try.

"You know more about this than me, so tell me what to do."

"Huh?" _Know more about what? Sex? Oh, no..._

Then an icy cold spread to Duo's gut. A weight settled on his chest as he realized that Heero must have learned about his time in Purgatory. His _almost_ street-tramp life. Or maybe without that special "almost" part. _Who had known about his dubious sexual past that could have told Heero?_ He'd told him about some bad times, but not how low he'd stooped. Only Hilde and Howard knew-- really, only Howard. He thought of his time at the Sweepers and the opportunities for Heero to have to talk to Howard, and came up with the dunking during bath time. _What had Howard told him in those few seconds he was submerged?_ Time enough to call him a 'whore.' Duo's heart felt squeezed in pain. _So was that why Heero was after him? He was easy? _

His face must have mirrored his gut, because Heero looked concerned and nudged him. "Duo?"

He swallowed his hurt. "Oh, yeah, well, when I'm better, sure." He tugged on Heero's arms, arranging him up on up chest. "Hang on to the headboard and I'll introduce you to a blowjob. 'S one way ta pay ya back for the work I ain't gonna be up to doing for some time."

Yeah, he was being sarcastic, and, yeah, the old saying was true: misery _does_ love company. So, when a couple heartbeats later he was sure Heero understood his slip up and the mistake he'd made, Duo kicked him off the bed.

"Don't let the door hit'cha on the way out!"

End Chapter Ten


	11. Chapter 11

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Eleven**

Quatre, Trowa, Duo, Heero (POV)

* * *

After a late breakfast, Quatre gathered all his guests in the sunroom. Heero was silent, inarticulate, and stood with his arms crossed over his chest, sucking the very sunshine out of the sky and glancing askance at Duo when he didn't think he was noticing. Quatre could feel something had gone very wrong with that couple and hoped being reunited back at their home would help. _Distraction_, he decided; that's what they all needed until it was time to visit the Saturday market. He orchestrated the conversation to touch on safe geographical topics and also to glean more information out of Trowa. 

"I was born in the L4 sector, originally," Quatre volunteered. "I can hardly remember a thing about it except the sand dunes and sun. You're from the south, Trowa?"

"I was told dat I hailed from L3, but I don' recall it. I grew up in Cajun country w'ere de circus winters."

"The circus? Really?" Quatre felt joy bubbling inside his belly like he'd swallowed champagne. He loved the circus with the exciting acts, the silly clowns, and the terrible food.

"I was part of it, for a time. I don' tink I had family dere."

"I wonder if you have family looking for you who you've never met?" Quatre said. When Trowa shrugged indifferently, he went on. "The circus comes here in fall early, on their way south. The town gets rather crazy when the circus comes."

That comment went over like a lead balloon. He'd expected Duo to express interest in seeing the circus, but he was cleaning his fingernails with a letter opener. Heero was sulking close by, but since Wufei and Trowa were politely listening to him, he continued. "L3 isn't far from L4. Wufei is from L5."

"Ah, de richest clan in de kingdom."

"L5 and L4 are close together, too, right Quat?" Duo asked, unable to maintain quiet for long. "Never been in that direction."

"I'll show you." Quatre, thrilled to be making some headway, stepped over to a writing desk, opened a drawer, and removed a linen-white paper, and a pen. On his way back to his chair, he selected a big, flat book from the bookcase. He used the book at a portable desktop and drew a large circle on the paper.

"There's our kingdom."

Duo and Heero had moved closer to watch. "In a nutshell," Duo muttered.

Quatre chuckled then inscribed a much smaller one inside. "And the city-state of Sanc where we live. That includes everything along the Rogue River starting in the south with Serenity, Serendipity going north to Tumbletown, Sublimity, and Tumult and Devine at the furthest north border."

"Dat's w'ere dey have de blockades, in Devine. Dey will be fightin' a civil war dere in no time," Trowa said.

Wufei was looking over Trowa's shoulder. "You've seen that yourself?"

Trowa nodded. "Yeah."

Duo appeared less interested in the politics and more in the map. "I know the area inland east of Serenity," Duo said. He stared at Heero, adding, "Some think I have expertise in the area."

Quatre didn't like his tone of voice, and wanted to avoid touching on any off-limit subjects, so he asked for just what he needed. "So give me the town names, expert. I forget the order." He wrote in the city names as Duo ticked them off.

"Perdition and Purgatory, then these little villages Drain and Sully- which is really Sullivan's Gulch but it gets shortened—"

"You've got to be kidding," Wufei snorted.

"I don't make up this stuff! And then the capital city of Sanc, Sanc Royal."

"Just a minute!" Quatre wrote in the names, dotting inside the small circle. At the very center he wrote "Sanc Royal", and then cut the blank part between the inner circle and the outer circle into five semi-equal pie wedges. "Okay, go on."

Wufei pointed to the 9 o'clock position. "L5 sector goes here. L1 begins at 11 o'clock. L2 starts south of that at 2 o'clock. L3 begins then at 4 o'clock to about 6:30 with the Rogue River cutting through it. L4 from 6:30 back up to about 9 o'clock. These are approximate, naturally."

Duo peered up at him through his bangs. "Pretty, damned exact, if you ask me. You teach the kiddies their geography this way?"

"More or less." Wufei tilted his head to the side slightly and added a lift of his shoulders to complete the "who cares?" gesture. "How did you learn it?"

"On foot. Didn't have school growing upon the streets of L2."

"Duo!" Quatre was clearly shocked to learn that his friend hailed from the slummiest sector in the kingdom.

"Hell there's no hidin' the way I talk."

"It's colorful, to say the least," Wufei said.

Quatre watched as Wufei inched away, giving Duo an extra foot of space as if to separate himself further from L2 trash.

Trowa drawled, "A man's hometown is out of his control."

Then Heero spoke up, intoning like a depth charge submerged beneath the sea, low and hollow. "I'm from L1."

Heero dared them all to challenge Duo's heredity, or his own. If L2 housed the indigent poor and those desperate enough to fall to thievery and prostitution to survive, then L1 could lay claim to being the chief hideout of murderers and paid assassins.

"Oh, Heero," Quatre said. "I thought you were born here." He watched Duo study Heero as if he'd grown a second head. At least he was meeting his eyes again. That was an improvement, Quatre decided.

Heero's eyes locked onto Duo's as he revealed his dark origins. "Odin Lowe picked me up in L1 after shooting the real Heero Yuy to death, while Yuy was soaking in an _onsen_ bath. He told me I was Yuy's illegitimate son. If you don't know, Heero Yuy was as powerful as Khushrenada at the time and his prime opponent. Anyway, Odin took me in and raised me as his own. I guess it was a joke that he named me after my actual father."

Trowa knew he had to fill the awkward yawning silence. "An' Dekim murdered Odin."

Heero's eyes slid askance. "Yes, and slaughtered or conscripted all his men except me and one other."

"I remember dat time. An' I wasn't part of de attack, dat's fo sure. No. Not part of dat. An' I took off a few months or so later."

"And you are not related in any way to Dekim Barton," Quatre said. He wanted to clarify this point immediately.

"Not by de blood, but after his men attacked an' murdered my family, he raised me, givin' me his son's name." He looked up at Heero. The parallels in their lives too close for comfort. "He tol' me his boy had been shot dead. I hated him and them, the oder merc's, so I ran off, joined de circus for a time, but when he came alookin' fo me, I turned myself in to him. Either dat or he'da burned down de whole t'ing."

"But you're not with him now," Quatre stated. He had finally gotten some of the information he'd been after. He could sense things about people, feelings and intentions bound to those feelings. Trowa, he knew, was not bad at heart, nor was Duo, or Heero, despite their birthrights.

Thinking of the troubled pair, Quatre's eyes shifted their way a moment. Heero and Duo were standing side by side, not touching, but no longer shunning one another. An improvement.

"_Non._ I ran off again like I said after Odin was killed. Been hidin' out. Gamblin' fo money. Tradin'. Helped the Sweepers once snaggin' pirates. Made some friends."

"Twice," Heero corrected. "You just helped the sweepers again."

"Yeah," Trowa smiled fractionally, slapping his bound leg. "How did I fo'git dat, eh?"

"So, is everyone ready to go to the Saturday market?" Quatre asked. "I'll take Trowa in the carriage. The rest of you can walk and we'll meet there. Anything you buy, we'll carry back to your place with the carriage."

Wufei opened his mouth to say he'd be taking the carriage, too, and then snapped it shut. Winner stared him down. "The walk will do me good," Wufei said.

Heero seemed happy to move. "It's time we looked in at our house," Heero said.

Quatre watched as he tried to catch Duo's eyes again, but failed. Duo still seemed listless, but then he was recovering from a gunshot to the arm. Quatre took that to be a sign that he wanted to go back to his own home, but he might not be well enough. "You can stay and recuperate here for a few more days, Duo."

Duo shook his head. "Thanks, but I belong…back home."

Wufei led them to the door. He stood just inside, perhaps gauging the temperature (hot) or determining his energy level (low) until Quatre pushed him, propelling him forward.

"We'll run into you at the market, I'm sure, but just in case we don't, make sure you all come back for Sunday dinner. Remember!" Quatre called after them. He turned to Trowa, his head tipped to the side, smiling, and said, "Now for us, some healthful _afternoon_ exercise and _delightful_, fresh air."

(o)

Afternoon delight. Trowa smiled. He understood what the phrase meant. He looked at the young Mr. Winner and _knew _he knew, too.

Quatre stood there in a pool of sunlight whose source Trowa could not track and decided it had to be Quatre Winner himself. Light must have flared from his incandescent honey-blond hair and eyes that could change from cerulean blue to near turquoise, reminding him of the gradations of color he'd once seen in a view of the river. He stood there glowing in a sunflower-yellow shirt and white linen slacks, and Trowa thought he wanted nothing more than a little afternoon delight with him. But Quatre Winner, he was sure, wasn't the type to be trifled with no matter how much he flirted.

"Sure. I'll need ma crutch to get to da carriage," Trowa said.

They rode through Winner's estate, which sat in the midst of acres of fabulous, romantic gardens and pools. The carriage slowed before exiting to the road, rolled a little further, then stopped near a path through a parting in a high wall.

"Just a short walk. I'm sure you can make it," Quatre said, helping Trowa step down.

"Dere must be hundred different kinds of trees," Trowa pointed out.

"There are," Quatre said. "Come on."

The tree question put to bed, Trowa chuckled softly and limped after him the few steps necessary to take him inside the walled garden.

They sat upon a bench beneath a willow and a pond. There was a glimpse of the town of Sublimity beyond a screen of birch trees. Some walls draped with vines looked like an ancient cupola. A tiled fountain spewed forth water that spilled over the bowl sides, gushing over rockery to empty into the duck pond. The ducks were motionless as decoys, wings folded, hemmed in by sleep.

Quatre's shimmering, silk shirt worn open at the collar revealed a "v" of delicate ivory skin, luminous in the sunlight. His hair like spun gold, brushed the collar. He was wearing a dove-grey vest of feather-light wool trimmed in gold braid. In his left earlobe there glittered what was surely a diamond. Talk about gilding a lily! Quatre was too beautiful in a flannel bathrobe for his own good, much less what he was wearing now, Trowa thought.

"Nice garden."

"Uh, huh. We can discuss plants or you can you kiss me."

Trowa was quick on the uptake. "Now dat's easy." He tipped Quatre's chin up with his hand and tasted his lips.

Delightful.

(o)

Duo was on a roll. He was being a jerk and he knew it. His use of the L2 urban street slang was outrageous and he knew that, too. The trouble was, once he got started, he didn't know a way out of his funk. He wasn't about to apologize to Heero for kicking him out of his bed and room the night before. He had never come on to Heero or given him any reason to think he was a cheap lay. On the other hand, what Heero had said to Quatre to downplay Duo's trashy birthplace and revealing his own shoddy past had been a nice thing to do. Heero sure had a rough start, _but that didn't give him any reason to say… whatever_. Duo was no longer sure what Heero had said to set him off.

He wanted Heero to say something now, though, but he didn't know what he wanted to hear. "I don't care if you've been a whore" was not it-- that was for sure. The more Duo thought about the evening before, the worse he got. Heero had been so nice and he had about admitted that he had no experience with sex, at least with a man. That had to have been hard for him to say.

_Why did he have to go and ruin everything then? _Duo kicked a rock._What was there to say?_ The rock bounced off a boot, a black leather boot buffed to a mirror-like shine.

"Eh…" Duo froze in place and wrenched his neck upwards to take in the face of the imposing figure belonging to the boots_. Oh, man… _

"Hello, Mr. Chang." The man looked over his head to Wufei behind him. His soft, cultured voice contrasted with his piercing blue eyes and glossy platinum mane—a wicked combination.

"Lieutenant Merquise. I'm honored."

Zechs waved his hand dismissing the formalities. "How have you been?" he asked politely, although his eyes swept over Duo and Heero with curiosity.

"Very well, thank you." Wufei turned toward Duo. "May I introduce Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy."

His hand lingered over his shake as he said, "Heero Yuy, yes, I don't believe you and I have met, properly, but I recognize you, certainly."

Heero graced him with a curt nod, "Merquise," leaving Wufei to carry on the conversation. Duo was in awe of the dazzlingly handsome man, standing there wide-eyed, and temporarily struck dumb.

"Maxwell is in business with Yuy and they are renting the fishing lodge from Winner. We just came from the estate." Wufei gazed about. "He should be meeting us here."

"Fishing lodge? I didn't know Winner had one of those."

"Me neither," Duo muttered. He fought back his feelings of inferiority. _Hell, it was just a man. A famous man. A fucking hot military man with fancy boots, gorgeous hair, and a sultry smile. Damn._ "It's kinda a makeover, work-in-process."

"They are putting on an addition," Wufei clarified.

"Really? I was never clever or handy that way," Zechs said, smiling sincerely before turning back to Wufei. "I'm having a summer garden party next Sunday. I hope you'll attend." He smiled at Heero and Duo. "Very casual. Please, say you'll come, too."

Duo didn't want to miss a party, but Zechs Merquise was damned daunting. Heero's shoulders had tensed up so much the cloth was stretched across his back. Wufei's eyes narrowed.

"Thank you," Wufei said for them all. "I'm sure we'll all look forward to seeing you again next weekend."

Zechs clicked his heals, mentioned other business to attend to, and marched away, leaving Heero smoldering and Duo rambling.

"That dude's livin' chilly, fo shizzle. He's so iced out, ya think?"

"Maxwell, if you want me to answer, speak the native language." Wufei halted suddenly. "I know you can talk." He stared at Heero and, unable to cow him slid his eyes back to Duo. "What is the matter with you two?"

"I don't want to attend his party," Heero said.

"That may be so, but that's not what –"

Duo sighed, fed up with them all. Zechs garden party was not what was really wrong at all, and he knew Heero knew it too. Even Wufei knew. When he recognized Martha and her tailor husband Ramul patrolling their booth, he jetted over to examine their wares and engage them in a lengthy discussion about the quality of cotton fabric. If he couldn't solve his problems, he could hide from them.

(o)

Heero watched Duo swagger off uncertain whether or not to follow. He hadn't meant to hurt Duo's feelings. He hadn't meant to do anything but have mind blowing sex with the man he was sure he was in love with. He had replayed his last words in his head, knew where he'd gone wrong, and settled into a simmering anger at Duo for not giving him the benefit of the doubt and letting it pass. Still, his ire continued to warm under the hot sun listening to Duo's inane remarks, and then came Zechs Merquise unwelcome invitation, igniting his anger further. He was afraid he would hit the boiling point and blow up before making up.

"This way." Wufei nudged Heero and slogged through the marketplace cutting a path with his glare alone. He pulled him into a secluded corner. "What did you do?"

Heero crossed his arms over his chest, pressed his lips into a fine line, and scowled.

"A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory."

"Don't peddle your ancient Chinese proverbs to me."

"I remind you: you had him in bed and mostly undressed. You can't tell me he wasn't ready, willing, and able."

"Shut up."

"I'm not saying he's--," Wufei shook his head, running a hand over his smooth coif. "He's held you off this long. I never would have guessed he was from L2. I would have thought he was from Sanc Royal. He could give Winner lessons in propriety…"

Heero stopped Wufei's mutterings. "Are you saying Duo's got morals? Yes, he does. The problem has nothing to do with his birthplace. We had a misunderstanding, that's all."

"Fix it. You'll be staying under the same roof, a small one, tonight, and tomorrow you'll be back to work. We are going back to Serendipity, correct? Tobacco to move, or was that my imagination?"

Heero huffed, exasperated by Wufei's ranting, and Wufei knew it. "We go tomorrow, yes." He drew a long breath and let it out through his nose then clenched and unclenched his fists. "I miss-spoke, implying I thought he was more experienced, which insulted and embarrassed him. But he didn't give me a chance to—"

Wufei raised a hand to block the wall of excuses. "The facts, although interesting, are usually irrelevant. With a woman, you simply accept responsibility and apologize. I could never bring myself to do that," Wufei said.

"I'll do it," Heero said, resigned. "I don't want to sleep on that vermin-ridden couch and I don't want to leave things like this. I'll just explain what I really intended to say."

Wufei shook his head, pooh-poohing that idea. "Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense."

"I should tell him I was insane? That's insane."

"Think negative, and you've already failed," Wufei canted. When Heero narrowed his eyes indicating his loss of patience, Wufei resorted to plain-speak. "Tell him you were crazy in love. You are in love, aren't you?"

Heero looked down, freeing Wufei to move. "I see him. Wave. Oh, stick your arm out and swish it around in the air. That's right. Get the idiot's attention."

"He's not an idiot."

"Of course not. Okay, it's working. He's coming this way. I shall leave you to it. Fix things," Wufei repeated then moved away. "You'll do that, right?"

"Yes. I accept."

Heero took two steps then stopped. Duo was on his way to meet them. "Hey, where'd Wufei disappear off to? Hmm, private hiding place here?"

He gave Heero a kiss on the cheek that he didn't seem to know what to do with. Then, suddenly, Heero flung his arms around him. Slowly, Duo returned this heartfelt hug.

"Sorry," they both said simultaneously staring into one another's eyes to the exclusion of all else.

"I was crazy," Heero said, adding in a whisper, "in love."

Duo's jaw dropped and eyes widened impossibly large. "Ah—"

Out of the ether, Wufei reappeared. "I said 'make up' not 'make out' with the boy! Take that someplace more secluded, like your house. I have a reputation to uphold as an instructor of children."

Right. Heero broke away and moved back a step. They would talk later. Right now it was time to preserve images. No parents wanted their children influenced by perverts or a teacher who associated with them, and homosexuality was considered a rare and uncommon, as well as disgusting and barely tolerated, an affliction.

Wufei seemed satisfied, and after pealing his eyes off the scarf in Duo's hands he asked, "Where did you get that?"

"The booth with the clothing. Nice folks. There's another in Hilde's favorite color."

Wufei cleared his throat. "You know her favorite color?"

"She goes apeshit over red."

"Red. Of course. Excuse me." Wufei started off in the direction of the red scarf when he spied Quatre and Trowa in the carriage. "Oh! Here comes that dilettante at last! Winner! Over here!"

(o)

Duo's braid swung from side-to-side as he took off after Wufei in search of the perfect scarf. Heero smiled, relieved that he hadn't damaged their relationship permanently with his slip up or with his revelation. In fact, he thought that last part came off pretty well. He would have to dig into Duo's psyche later, but for now things were okay. Tonight things would be better. Tonight they'd be home. Heero stepped up the pace to catch up with them just as Quatre's carriage rolled to a stop close by. He could hear Duo rattling on; his L2 jargon shed for his combination urban-slang-local-patois. Still, once Duo got going, he traveled far and fast. Heero found it amusing that even Wufei had a hard time keeping up, linguistically.

"My clan lived in what amounts to be a small village. You've lived in the big city then, so how is it so different from this one?" Wufei asked.

Duo's answer stretched from here to Infinity_, if that's a place, _Heero thought with a smile.

"Well, to start, you can tell the tourists from the local urban dwellers. There's something so blue-eyed clean, so childish and trusting about how tourists shank it about a city. They lack pedestrian radar, that combination of peripheral vision, hard-won experience, and ESP that alerts them to the carriage that's about to occupy the space where they're standing, or the messenger boy on his pony who's speeding into their intended path. No, the street smart folks, they move with a strong sense of purpose, like… drop a shoulder to signal a turn." He demonstrated. Wufei nearly missed his cue and got run over.

"No matter where you're headed, you move as though you are on a red-hot mission with the big kahuna. Then muggers don't bother you. Stand and dither, and you're dead meat."

"This _kahuna_, is he an acquaintance of yours?" Wufei asked.

Heero figured that Duo knew he was pulling his leg when he smiled, barely, and then ignored him and went on with his observations. "See, street folk look for the urban decision points, plot a turn well before they reach the corner. Real body vocabulary."

"Having to translate your body language and your conversation? No wonder Yuy is going mad," Wufei muttered.

Ten minutes later, Wufei had purchased his red scarf and Duo was still yakking. They cruised the food vendors and made their purchases, stocking up on everything. Duo was still making his observations, but Heero was glad to hear that his partner appeared to be losing his voice. Wufei had long ago tuned him out.

"Duo, we should get Ruggles a dog collar. That way we could leash him properly to the boat and take him with us sometime."

They didn't have the goat cart, so they first made a trip to the carriage to unload the numerous packages they had been carrying. Mostly they had purchased food. Trowa helped them stow everything away, and in turn they helped him to shaded spot to sit while Quatre hurried to a booth to buy him a cool drink.

"Hey, Tro', you're doing pretty good for yourself," Duo said with a wry smile. He leaned closer, but Heero could still hear him say, "You've figured out Quat likes guys, right?"

Trowa glanced over to where Quatre stood in line, colored in a flash, and then looked down at his hands, fumbling for a cigarette. "Yeah."

"Well, he didn't come on to me at all. He's fucking bonkers over you. He must be _that way_, but his ain't zipper morals, if you get my drift."

"He's a gentleman. I ain't no doofus." Trowa sucked in a lungful of smoke and let it out in a thin stream. "You know w'at _'deparler'_ means? It means you ramble on too much. I know a spot of luck w'en it comes my way." He stretched his legs, wincing as the injured one shifted. "I don' hide who ah am an' I take comfort w'ere I kin. He'll wake up an' send me on mah way soon 'nough."

Duo shook his head and, seeing as he was about to start a long-winded argument, Heero drew him off with a firm reminder. "Dog collar, Duo. Then I want to go home."

"Oh, yeah. Right. Let's go then!"

Duo liked shopping and was pleased to look over the color choices for one in the right size, while Heero tried on a belt for himself. His had been damaged by a knife blade in the pirate attack. He riffled through the selections, but soon found he wasn't even looking at them; instead, his eyes were fixed on the object of his affections a few feet beyond. He simply couldn't keep his eyes off Duo.

Duo looked up and suddenly his eyes sparkled. "You okay?"

"Hn," Heero grunted.

"There it is!" Duo snatched a tiny red dog collar.

"I like the black better," Heero said, eyes glued to the black leather band clamped around the end of Duo's braid.

"Black leather man, eh?" Duo's smile turned predatory. "We should save up for matching black leather pants for winter."

Heero gasped for air. That had been the first time Duo had implied that they might be together in winter. _Was he going to stay with him and not go back to the Sweepers,_ he wondered? Then he imagined Duo in tight, black leather pants and felt his body react automatically and inappropriately.

"Yes."

(o)

As Heero and Duo became absorbed with the belt booth, Wufei joined Quatre. Trowa was resting on a bench not far from the carriage. Quatre was beaming. Wufei was glad his friend was happy, but troubled that the Cajun was the cause. If the man proved to be a thief, a spy, or a gold-digger, Wufei would feel responsible for introducing them. Then there was the chance meeting with Zechs Merquise…

He pulled Quatre aside, whispering, "So you told Zechs to run into us at the market and invite everyone to his party? How did you get word to him so soon? What sway have you with this world to make things happen?"

"My charm? I also like green. I can make marshmallows, too. Did you know that?"

"Mysterious does not suit you, Winner. Nor does obtuse."

Quatre smiled, exuding his appealing charisma and leaving Wufei thinking that there was nothing Quatre wouldn't try. They were walking between the stands, out in the sun-heated air, when Wufei asked him, "Is there anything you wouldn't take a whack at?"

Quatre stopped on the flattened grass path between two booths, looking thoughtful.

Wufei laughed. "If you really have to think about it, the answer's no. Given sufficient challenge, you'd try anything."

"Yes, I think you're right. Emeralds. I wonder if anyone is selling jewelry with emeralds today."

"Unlikely. Possibly peridots." Wufei followed Quatre's line of sight to Trowa hobbling with his crutch and heading their way. "Or jade. You are not thinking of purchasing something for…that man?"

Quatre didn't answer him. _Of course he was,_ Wufei thought, sighing.

"There are three basic arrangements for the purchasing of jewelry," Wufei said. "The first is as keys to the front door-- call it engagement, anniversary, birthday—all public statements of affection and intention. The second is keys to the back door, which are presents to mistresses or boyfriends that are meant to ensure access, but bypass all the front door commitments. The third category is the keys out of the doghouse, or the purchases meant to make amends for bad behavior." Wufei paused long enough for Quatre to look up in question. "Winner, are you going for the front door, or--?"

Wufei's question was cut off by Quatre's sudden movement.

"Trowa? What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Over dere! See de girl with de long hair 'bout da color of mine? She's with Barton's gang."

"The girl? But she's--!"

"She was wid the pirates. I saw her running away. She's dangerous, if she's seen me or followed me here--"

"She wasn't caught, then."

Wufei charged off in the direction he'd seen the girl last, while Quatre ran for Heero and Duo. A few minutes later, the other young men returned, hands empty.

"She got away," Wufei said. "Who is she?"

"Her name's Middie," Trowa said, cursing his infirmity and his inability to catch her himself. "Middie Barton, Dekim's other adopted kid."

"You think she tracked you to _here_?"

"Yeah."

"She is either is very devoted to her father or she hates you. I mean, to keep up such a determined effort to get you back to circumstances you obviously don't want to be a part of is hateful," Quatre said.

"Hatred, yes."

Duo interrupted the discussion. "Hey, we got food that needs to go to the house; either that or it rots here in the sun."

Trowa shrugged, giving up. "Not'ing we can do now. Might as well go."

Quatre bundled everyone into the carriage and signaled the driver to take them to the fishing hut. Duo was increasingly excited as they neared the humble abode. He explained to Trowa what they were planning to do, installing plumbing and adding another bedroom. It was small and the back was a mess with the construction stalled by weather and the pirate event, but it was home. His first real home, as far as Wufei understood.

The carriage parked on the main road, leaving them boys to carry the purchases and Quatre to support Trowa along the path to the cabin. Wufei noticed that something wasn't right about the same time Heero and Duo did.

"What the shit?" Duo shouted, dumping his bags and taking off full-tilt to the front door, which was slightly ajar.

Heero was close behind him. When Wufei caught up, Duo was wandering the house grumbling curses with each new discovery of ruination, while Heero stood silent and still as an assassin lining up a shot. At first, Wufei thought the storm had blown through, scattering the house's contents hither and dither. Through the window, he caught glimpses of the flooded back yard, but that was to be expected. When he turned in the direction Heero was staring, he saw what had held him so enthralled. Across the one wall, scrawled in house paint-- for it matched the outdoor trim-- was a message:

**Nanashi, come out, come out where ever you are. **

"This was done by people searching for Trowa Barton," Heero said.

Quatre clasped his hand over his heart and cried out. "Oh! Oh, no! Let no one _anywhere_ despise another. Let no one out of anger or resentment wish suffering -- on… anyone… at… all." He chanted this in a clear voice, measuring out each word of the last phrase.

"Too late fo dat," Trowa murmured.

Heero suddenly reanimated and shouted, "The boats!" He took off in a sprint toward the docks where his flatboat and Trowa's skiff had been tied up.

End Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twelve**

Duo, Wufei (POV)

A/N: Lemon and bad joke warning—not at the same time, oh, and it's uber long, too.

* * *

The house was not as bad as it appeared at first. Clothes were strewn, the kitchen cupboards ransacked, but nothing was damaged beyond redemption. Since they owned so few things, even when it was spread out littering the floor it didn't amount to much cleanup. Still, someone had been inside and touched their stuff, and that left Duo feeling pretty pissed off. 

If it bothered Duo, it nearly traumatized Heero. Duo kept his distance from him, circling carefully the friend whose body language emanated shock waves of hatred. Quatre, who hadn't even taken a look inside, looked stricken. Duo guessed the poor guy must have been awash in Heero's bad vibes, until he stepped past the door. The sensitive young man gagged at the sight of the walls then rushed to bar Trowa from entering and seeing for himself the threatening words. Quatre needed have dashed off so fast; the last Duo had seen of Trowa, he was stuck at the porch stairs, unable to climb.

"He was here."

"Heero, we don't know who was here, but I'll bet it wasn't Dekim Barton. One of his lackeys, no doubt, though."

Duo tried to be restore Heero's confidence, but there was no way to gloss over the fact that once again, Dekim Barton had attacked Heero's home. He knew Heero hated feeling vulnerable. _Hell, he didn't either. Who did?_

When asked if they could help, Duo assured his friends that he and Heero would be all right. The door was fixable, the clothes replaceable or washable, and the walls paintable. The mattress hadn't been harmed, so they could sleep there that night.

"It's over and done. 'Nuff said."

Heero's news had been less good, but, still, not tragic. After checking out the condition of the boats, he was seething, but able to report. Trowa's boat was gone-- set adrift, stolen, or sunk-- and the flat boat would take a few hours to repair and delay the next day's trip to Winner's Sunday dinner. Nothing they couldn't handle. Seeing the inside of his ransacked home was something else. Duo guessed he was re-living his past, and since Heero's resolutions to a problem involved shooting at it, Duo kept a wary eye on that trigger finger.

"Quat, we'll be fine, _peachy even_, in no time. Thanks. Go home."

_Now would be good._

Duo turned down Quatre's earnest offers to go back to the estate until "everything was safe," an indeterminable state.

"No, thank you. Not necessary. NO!"

Winner gave up. "Okay, I surrender. I understand, really. But I'll sleep better knowing Ruggles is here to bark at intruders, so I'm sending Todd around with the dog immediately."

Duo watched Heero glare at Quatre, ready to tackle either man if Heero touched his gun. Duo wasn't sure that he wouldn't obliterate any trespasser coming one step closer. Quatre carried both of their knapsacks to the steps of the house, aware of Heero's mood and moving cautiously. He arranged the bags by the front door, leaning them together side by side-- rather like the two occupants of the house-- worn, rugged, and a little bent out of shape.

"This injustice will not go unpunished." Wufei handed over a package with a muttered "your medical supplies" and wished them well. Trowa and Quatre said their farewells, returned to the carriage with Wufei, and, finally, left.

"Well, damn."

"I will kill him."

"We'll get through this," Duo said. He gave Heero an opening to vent and hoped he'd take it.

"He will not get away with this. Not again."

"Yeah, we'll get even, 'Ro, but we'll do it smart. No goin' half-cocked, guns blasting. We want Dekim ,and my guess is he's no place within a hundred miles from here, not if he's got his gang to do dirty work like this. Coulda been that Middie girl Trowa spotted."

"Hn."

"Like I said, c_ould_ have. Which means we get her outta the way, somehow first."

"I'll clean and make dinner, if you paint," Heero said.

That was as close to agreement as he would get for the time being. Yeah. And the interior wall had to be painted over right away. For sure. Damn.

"Deal."

Not that Duo had a hankering for painting, but Heero could cook well. And while painting Duo's mind could wander. That afternoon he let it wander past his defenses, high and low, far and wide, to wind up at a familiar dead-end. He and Heero needed to Talk Things Out about their relationship. All the "Dekim Barton encroachment into their lives" was nothing compared to what _sexus interuptus_ (as Duo guessed Wufei might put it) was going to do to them. The air was rampant with that tension. Bad feelings could fester and turn the tiniest nick in a friendship into a relationship-threatening wound. He had nearly lost Hilde by not admitting he was gay and avoiding her advances until she had already committed her feelings. He was not going to lose Heero, _his one in a million, for Gods'sakes! _No. his wasn't going to lose his chance at love over an imagined slight, some misunderstanding, and a lot of over-sensitivity on his part.

_Live and learn. He could do that. Open his soul to Heero. Now. _

He heard Heero growl and rip an old shirt into rags for cleaning. The rumble started low in his throat and sounded animalistic. Heero needed to get his aggression out by cleaning with minimal conversation, Duo decided.

_The Talk could wait a bit more. Not now, but soon. Like when he's cooking._

But not as soon as he thought. As promised, Todd ran Ruggles over and dumped Lucifer on the porch. That provided Duo an excuse take a break and think about something else for a few minutes.

"Thanks for bringing the mutt."

As Duo bounced over to greet the frisky dog, Heero joined them. Duo moved around to give his friend equal access. He scratched behind the doggy ears and Heero accepted the enthusiastic doggy licks that came with the territory. Nothing pleased Duo more than to see Heero's anger wash away with the doggy kisses.

"No problem. I brought yer mail, too. Just the one thing." Todd waited for Heero to read the note before forking over his weekly wages. He could be patient because Heero never forgot to tip, too.

"Just a request for me to stop at the mill on the way," Heero explained, sort of, to Duo and counted out Todd's pay.

"Well, gotta go. Thanks for the dough. I wanna hear more about the pirates, but my ole man says I gotta be back before dark to finish my chores."

"I'll be here by myself next week, so come on by then," Duo told the boy. "Quat's got work dudes coming, too, so maybe you can earn some more of the hard stuff doin' odd jobs for them."

"That would be great! See ya later!"

It was good to be home, but it was time to get back to work. Ruggles barked once, and then found a cool spot on the hardwood floor to take a nap. Lucifer had already draped himself over the porch banister, where he could catch a breeze that stirred his whiskers, the only part of him that was animated. Duo and Heero looked them over, longing to nap away the rest of the day, but instead, returned to their drudgery.

Before it became dark outside, Heero and Duo had to address the fate of their outhouse. They stood shoulder to shoulder and scanned the back for a path along partially submerged lumber to the leaning building. It listed to the left more than ever.

"I gotta take a leak, but that's the scariest thing I've ever had to face," Duo said.

"I can't hold it any longer without damaging myself," Heero said.

Sharing a rueful "good luck" and a smile helped set their resolve, along with their pressing needs to relieve themselves. With a war cry, both young men ventured outside, leaping over the first mud pit and skidding along one board until it ran out. Heero jumped left to land on a tottering box and turned to watch Duo sail to the right onto an empty beer drum. Duo signaled him with a "thumbs up" and a grin. Being nimble, well-balanced, and agile enabled them to avoid a messy spill into the muck. Nothing, however, made the laborious and treacherous trip to the bathroom a pleasant affair.

"Using the facilities has become an athletic event," Heero observed, when they had each had a turn.

"No shit!"

Heero stalled. "_That_ is not a solution."

Duo did a double take, and then laughed as a smile crept across Heero's face. "Funny."

Heero's eyes swept over the landscape landing on a high spot where the grass had been cleared and a stand of young plants was just visible. "I hope the garden is all right."

"Maybe we can chart a trail to that in the morning."

"Or use stilts?"

"Not me, man, but circus-boy-Trowa might give it a go. Well, maybe not with that bum leg." Immediately, Duo regretted spoiling the good mood by bringing up the name of anyone associated with Bartons, but he couldn't take it back.

"Hn," Heero grunted then ran the gauntlet back into the house.

After washing up as best they could in the kitchen, Heero set out the food without a word. Duo brushed a hand over his bangs and joined Heero at the table, avoiding his eyes. He bet Heero wanted to avoid The Talk as well.

"Smells great, 'Ro."

"Hn."

_Yep. Yessirree. Eat and no talk_.

They finished the simple meal in silence. Duo cleared and washed the dishes with Heero hovering at his elbow and drying. When the last dish was resting in the cupboard, Duo turned and seized Heero by the wrist and drew him closer.

"Hey."

Heero wrapped him in his strong embrace and they kissed. Heero poured his heart into it-- a soul kiss to his knees, deep and passionate. Duo was sure he was no longer standing; that his feet were floating off the ground. Oh, yeah, Heero supported his weight with one arm. He felt insubstantial in Heero's embrace. There was Heero, Heero's mouth, Heero's tongue on a quest for prime palate real estate. Duo felt his braid brush the door jam to their bedroom. When the mattress slapped him on his back, Duo broke their kiss.

"Oh!" Duo caught his breath in a loud gasp as Heero's nose touched his nose. Those deep blue eyes brimming with desire locked with his eyes. Their connection was nearly complete.

"Wanna get undressed?" Duo asked.

"Yes, go ahead. I'm going to secure the door for the night then be right back."

Duo took that to mean "strip and await further instructions." He wondered if he could look forward to another nice back massage. _Maybe he should give Heero one this time?_ He twisted around, checking the floor for Heero's knapsack and wondered where Heero had stowed the oil he'd used at Winner's place. He decided not to invade his friend's personal property and didn't search inside the bag. He leaned back on the pillows and straightened out his braid. He ran a hand over his chest and covered himself with a thin sheet.

"I can't do much anyway. I can't do a very good job of _anything_ with only one good arm."

"What are you complaining about?"

"I thought I might give you one of those rub downs like you gave me, but—"

"Unnecessary," Heero said as he tore off his clothes and piled them by the bed. His eyes never left Duo's torso, even as he dragged his bag to the bedside and settled on the mattress next to Duo.

Duo blew a stream of air, ruffling his bangs. "Yeah, well…"

"You know what you can do for me? You, ah, suggested it before, though you didn't mean it. And... it won't require both hands."

Duo watched Heero's cheeks turn pink and his eyes glitter before lowering his eyelashes to screen the contact, safeguarding his obvious neediness from him. It was such a coy gesture, that Duo nearly laughed.

"You want a blowjob!"

"Yeah." Heero nodded with some enthusiasm, while blushing darker. "I don't know about you, but I meant what I said… about not knowing. Odin protected me from the others and I had few friends and after he died I've been alone."

_Okay, Maxwell, he started it now you spill your story or forever hold your peas, no, __**peace**_! "Okay, well, I did some hand jobs and a few blowjobs for food, to eat, ya know? But that's it. Nothing else. Not even with Solo. Not with strangers either, got that?"

He leveled an intense stare at Heero to make him accept the truth.

"I believe you."

Duo nodded and let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding.

"When I saw Howard, I was at my lowest. I hadn't eaten in a couple days and I was sick. I might have offered him just about anything at that point. I actually don't remember what I said, but he, well, he wasn't into guys, lucky me. So, things turned out okay. I told him later that I wasn't a… you know…in the business, and I thought he understood. He didn't have the right to tell you anything."

"I know. It didn't matter to me; except, I was hoping you might be better at…this… than me."

Duo smiled, feeling his cockiness return with his relief and shrugged off the last of his angst. _That wasn't so hard after all! _"It's pretty simple to start, and then nature takes over."

Heero nodded, his face a picture of serious intent. Duo bit back a laugh. It was funny, but no guy wants to be thought inadequate in that department. And he loved Heero and wanted to make him feel good.

"So, lay on your back."

Heero swiftly positioned himself as instructed and waited. Duo crawled to his side, leaned on one elbow, and ran his free hand over the silky, golden skin pulled taut over rippling muscles. "God, you have one unobtanium body."

"Is that good?"

"The perfect substance."

Heero opened his mouth to object just as Duo lowered his open mouth to his groin, and "perfection' took on an entirely different meaning. Oh, sure, Duo had serviced men a few times before, but those had been different. Oh, so different. Fast, dark, and dirty characterized his past sexual experiences. But as he took a deep breath, he smelled Heero's unique scent, all masculine and clean, and wanted to taste him like mad.

Duo outlined Heero's flaccid member with the tip of his tongue, waking it instantly. He pushed in further with a hand, and fondled the soft balls, partially tucked between his strained legs. He kneaded them, gently at first, and then more forcefully, closely mimicking the way he would masturbate himself.

"Mmmmnnnn..." Heero groaned.

Duo knew the contact didn't really hurt, but that it was disturbingly stimulating since Heero's manhood stiffened. "That feels good, doesn't it?"

Heero stubbornly shook his head, which Duo found hilarious. He laughed and stroked more vigorously, one hand still massaging his scrotum.

"Yeah, it does," he replied for him.

Duo kissed his toned belly with big, wet, sucking kisses that tickled more than anything else. Heero curled away to escape and barked a few strained, breathy laughs, but was too worked up now to think about anything else except getting relief. That reaction excited Duo nearly as much as direct contact.

"This'll be even better," Duo croaked in a husky voice.

Heero cried out wordlessly, as much out of shock as out of sexual passion, when Duo's tongue licked his member from base to head. One hand pressed against Heero's jerking hip, holding him steady. With the injured arm free, he held the bottom of his lover's shaft with his thumb and forefinger and guided the shield into his wet mouth. His lips curled over his teeth, protecting the delicate skin from injury. Oh, he knew what he was doing. He'd been shown the ropes before.

_Heero was gonna love this._

(o)

Without more rain to drench the already sopping soil, the puddles drained further over night, allowing Duo to reset the make-shift walkway to the outhouse while Heero prepared coffee and toast. He rubbed at his tender jaw and smiled. _What a night!_ He felt great. Relaxed and ready to take on all the Barton's and Khushrenada's in the kingdom. Two blowjobs in one night! Sex with Heero had been better than terrific.

"Fuckalicious!"

"You talking to yourself again?"

"I was thinking about you," Duo said, and turned around to greet his lover. "And coffee!"

"I hope in that order."

"Yeah."

Duo allowed the return of his dopy, satiated grin; the one that made Heero want to mold him into a wad of pond muck. Heero crushed him up against the wall and kissed him fully on the lips, instead. He levered off, lifting his weight away, freeing Duo to move again, and leaving Duo breathless.

"There, now drink your coffee and get back to work."

Birds broke into song, frogs chirped in the grass, and all was well with the world. Home was where the heart was, and Duo's heart was with Heero. Yeah, he could tackle anything today, Duo was sure. His arm felt good. He could move it freely and his ribs were practically pain-free.

"I'll help you with the boat."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I can hold a hammer or whatever. I may not be ready to pole it to Serendipity tomorrow, but I can help you fix your boat today."

"Good." Heero stared at him with critical eyes a moment. "You are gorgeous."

"Man…" Duo couldn't stop grinning and felt like he deserved the compliment for a change.

"You are. You have the best eyes. I love your lips; your tongue should be preserved—"

It was Duo's turn to wrap himself around Heero, dragging him to the floor, and stifle further conversation for several minutes.

(o)

The letter was gone. Wufei checked and all the mail had gone out either late last night or very early this morning. It was too late to change things now. He sighed in a combination of relief and despair, and then seized the handle of his packed bag.

"Winner? I am on my way. I'll return for dinner and hopefully with news to share."

"You're going to the library, today? Why don't you relax after—?"

"No need. I can't relax knowing…" he paused. He was unwilling to reveal his insecurities concerning Hilde to Quatre Winner and had caught himself from unintentionally unloading them. Instead, he changed the course of his response. "I mean, I must learn the history of 'the bridge that is no longer'."

Wufei would use his bonus morning off to research information on Lucrezia Noin, Zechs Merquise, and Dorothy Catalonia. He owned a key to the library, because he was the school teacher. Who else used the place on a regular basis?

This would distract him from his other concern—that woman, Hilde. Nothing else seemed to work. Her face, her voice, her lips had invaded his mind like a virulent disease. Not that he wanted a cure…

He pictured her reading his letter as he strode to the stalls to get his horse. Before he could turn her smile into a frown after reading the contents of the note, he turned his attention on his horse, feeding it a couple lumps of sugar from the breakfast table.

"Ready for some exercise, Dragon?"

It was generous of Winner to lend him the stall, otherwise he would have had to spend nearly as much housing his horse in town as himself. Dragon was all he came with from L5, that and a bag of clothes and a bag of books and writing materials. He saddled up and led the gleaming dark horse out into the morning sun.

"Winner's groom takes good care of you, doesn't he?"

It was a good day for a ride. He took it slow, circling the park-like estate, breathing deeply of the floral scents that blended with the firs in a perfume finer than any exotic mix the ladies wore.

_Well, Hilde smelled nice._

Meeting Hilde had been a thing of chance. He had seen Hilde for the first time the day aboard the pirate boat-- axe chopping the limbs off one assailant. They hadn't been introduced yet, but that didn't mean they weren't, in some abstract way, already in love. _He_ certainly was. Not that he considered himself in love _at the time_. He was just totally spellbound from that moment on.

Once it was established that she and Howard were Duo's former colleagues—not more pirates-- and that he was going to be living under the same roof as the ax-wielding vision of strength and beauty, he made an important decision. His next move was to ingratiate himself into her subculture. Now, this was something he considered himself proficient at doing. He could fit in anywhere, being such an accomplished covert operative with a keen eye for details and being so flexible in temperament. Both, he'd say.

_What a load of malarkey!_ _Who was he kidding?_ _That was not him at all!_ _The Cajun, yes, but not him._

Wufei couldn't lie to himself for long, even in a daydream. He was stubborn and stuck out like a sore thumb wherever he went outside of his L5 clan. He could hardly rearrange the structure of his life to make room for himself, much less fit into the world of the Sweepers!

But then, after settling in the two invalids and helping Hilde prepare a meal, he had made a graceful, manly, and timely entrance. In the same breath that he praised her accommodations and fighting style, he had planned to tell her he was an honorable scholar. He waited just that extra second before he did in order to make sure he had enchanted her._ And… he couldn't recall how anything turned out._

He was much better at imagining a courtship than actually executing one, he decided, so he "imagined on." After moving into Hilde's living room with Duo, Trowa, and Heero, he had, in fact, just been himself, while at the same time not given himself away. A tricky maneuver, to be sure, but Wufei believed he was a multi-talented individual, and as such was untroubled by the challenge. The larger issue was the idea of acting like himself. Because frankly, around women, Wufei simply fell apart or drew a blank or became down right insulting if he perceived the woman in question to be weak in anyway.

Having Trowa and Duo to care for and Heero as a further but non-competitive distraction, relieved from his shoulders some of the burden of being himself. Hilde just had too much to do to notice Wufei's every mistake; at least, he hoped so. And, if her enthusiastic responses where any indication, he had drawn her attention. She kissed him, and more than once. She might think she had a crush on him, but he was certain that they shared true love.

_Dear Buddha! How had he arrived at that conclusion? What was he thinking about! It was more raving of a madman than a cool-headed scholar-swordsman! _

Wufei liked the romantic conclusion so much, though, that he retraced his mental steps to get to the beginning and deduce the same happy ending one more time. This time, however, his thought processes took a tangent and carried him all the way up memory lane to the events of last evening.

_The time had come. _ It was time to arrange a formal meeting with Hilde on his home turf.

The night spent at Winner's had been a productive one for him. After seeing to the care of the injured and ensuring everyone would be occupied and not be bothering him in his room later, he began with a proper letter of introduction. He would write to Hilde about himself.

The problem had been how to present himself as an average, non-threatening human being while simultaneously informing her of his abolished status from the clan and making himself likeable without going overboard. Moreover, how could he convince her to trust his motives enough to come and stay for a visit, lengthy or not?

He considered himself pretty appealing on first meeting, and he believed she thought so, too. But **trust** takes time and more than a single piece of paper to achieve. Even he knew his personality needed to grow on people, often requiring a few years and a ream or two of paper to get someone to truly trust him. He could appear stern and overbearing, a necessary characteristic to have around his doltish students. Oh, sure, he knew how to flatter, overdo, and lay it on thick in order to speed up his likeability time frame, but none of those techniques would resolve the trust issue. For someone to trust him, he had to provide them honest answers, and consciousness-raising-- when it came to his personal issues-- was not his forte. He was a tight-lipped fellow exiled to this outback town, consigned to educate the miserable offspring of the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, and with rather dim prospects to ever get back to his former elevated position in his clan. Head of his clan. He was a prince in exile.

This thought made him morose.

To be truthful, he would have to reveal his soul to gain Hilde's trust. With that in mind, he had tried to compact how he felt, part with a few underlying truths about himself, regale her with flattery, and wrap it up in an air of mystery—all on paper.

In the end, he did not like the sniveling, romantic Chang Wufei who wrote his single page letter of introduction, but he hoped _she_ would. He wrote and re-wrote, but was still unsatisfied until he tore it to shreds and started over from scratch again.

"My introductory letter could have waited for a more opportune time," he said to himself.

And he sighed, because that was not what he had done; instead, some part of his mind had folded the paper into thirds, stuffed it into an envelope, and left it on the silver palaver reserved expressly for the outgoing mail at the Winner estate. That had been last night. By now, or soon, depending on the speed of the mail traffic, it was, or would be in, in her hands. His letter, his heart, his future. Tomorrow, he would see her and learn her answer.

Which was why he hadn't slept well at all.

He trotted his steed to the back of a small inn near the library, where he could leave his horse for the day. Everyone at the stable was familiar with the school teacher's penchant for visiting the book building. He was easily recognized as the only man of Chinese distraction in town, so the stable boy hardly did more than take the leather straps and tip his hat. Wufei yawned, pressed a few coins into the grubby hand along with the reins, and then strode the short distance to the library.

He walked around to the building's rear entrance, used his key to let himself in, light a lantern, and toddle downstairs. It was time to think about something else for a change. _Dwell on the past, where it was safe._

He thought he'd begin with the backlog of old local newspapers. He knew the basement storage like the back of his hand, having spent many hours learning every square inch of the only building which housed books, until he met Quatre Winner and toured his impressive library.

One hundred years or more of weekly papers were stored on floor-to-ceiling enclosed shelves lining the walls and intruding into the inner basement forming lines and lines of free-standing walls. Inside each cabinet, the crisp, yellowed papers were stacked open and flat with thin sheets of wood separating the issues by month. Each palate was labeled clearly with the month and year, so, in spite of the poor lamplight, Wufei expected to locate the issues of interest swiftly.

It took longer than he thought.

He wanted to find out who built the bridge over the Rogue River and why. It had to have cost a fortune. What he discovered was that the entire debacle happened only about twenty years ago. Before he and his friends were born, but not so long ago as Winner had made it sound. He thought that was odd, but then Winner was odd. A little flaky at times.

He located the reports covering the initial building, the mixed community support and opposition. He followed the tortuous bridge erection, grand opening, and short life. When only weeks later a storm ripped it down, including, strangely, the foundation supports. Someone lost a fortune, too.

After learning all he could from the small town news, Wufei continued his investigation in the records room. _At least this room had natural light_, he thought blinking as he left the dim underground vault.

Having been born into an ancient L5 clan that could trace its lineage back to the beginning of time (or so it seemed to him when as a young boy he had to study the names and titles that led to his most notable family and, eventually to him in particular,) he understood how complex and convoluted family ties and relationships could become.

The sun was high over head, even beginning its descent, when he found the most remarkable information. He dashed off his final observations, stored his notes in a file, tucked the records away where he had found them, and raced from the building to collect his horse. He might be late for dinner at Winner's, but they'd all forgive him once they learned what he had found.

Late as he was, he still arrived before Heero and Duo. While the news in the folder grew whiskers, he sat with Quatre and Trowa. A brilliant green stone glittered on Quatre's earlobe. It hadn't been there before. He nearly always wore a diamond. Now, it was green. On careful observation, Wufei noted that Trowa was wearing a bright blue stone on his left ear, where none had been before. Not an aquamarine. Sapphire, probably. Costly baubles.

Wufei fingered his own earring, a simple sphere of jade_. His great-grandfather's and of little value. Except to him. _

"Oh, you noticed!" Quatre said. He didn't sound the least bit embarrassed at having given Trowa a stone worth more than Heero or Duo earned in a year—possibly even a lifetime!

"You changed your earring." Wufei didn't bother hiding his discontent.

"Pretty thing, isn't it?" Quatre didn't bother to wait for an answer. "You can put that face away. Don't judge me, Wufei."

"Why shouldn't I? I guide children for a living, such as it is, and if you are acting like one I'll advise you of that."

"You should not confuse your career with your life."

"You are flaky."

Quatre pulled a pout, while Wufei made a face and folded his arms over his chest. Trowa ambled to within listening distance and appeared to gauge the level of animosity before participating.

"Dere be a problem?"

"No matter _what_ happens," Quatre said, sighing dramatically, "Wufei always finds a way to take it too seriously."

"Me? It's you who has the problem with becoming too serious. Giving him…_that_." Wufei directed his gaze at Trowa's nearest ear, sparkling with the glitzy, sapphire adornment. "Don't you know that it's too soon for such…demonstrations of… attraction."

Wufei snapped at them both, although his criticism was directed at Quatre. If Trowa insisted on standing that close, then he could be included._What was Quatre thinking? He couldn't be that desperate for lovers!_ Quatre was foolhardy to lavish him with jewels, but Wufei didn't blame Trowa for accepting the extravagant gift. The Cajun was a trader, a gambler, a man used to making the most of any good fortune. A man of little honor.

"Excuse me?" Quatre said, confused.

Trowa stepped between them. "You tink he gave me de earring, Chang?"

"What would you have me believe? Do you think I'm blind and don't notice you're both wearing gemstones that match the other man's eye color? It's improper and foolish."

"Chang, dis is mine."

"Not that I blame **you**—" Wufei muttered.

"I've had it for years. Took it out 'round de pirates and just foun' it in de bottom of my bag. 'Fraid I'd lost it."

"A fool and his money are soon parted," Wufei recited in a world of his own. He was actually hoping Heero and Duo would walk in. _Heero would support him. Duo might. He seemed a thrifty fellow. Yes, both Duo and Heero were used to living on the margin; they would understand. _

"Wufei! This is new." Quatre pointed to his earring. "It's an excellent investment, but mostly I believe I can get Treize to bid higher for it. He has a thing for emeralds, I hear, and I may need a reason for meeting with him."

"If you have money you can make the ghosts and devils turn your grind stone."

"Wufei, you're ranting now."

"Man who drive like hell, bound to get there."

"Wufei, stop it! You are acting like a frog in a well shaft seeing the sky."

Wufei felt the fog in his brain lift. "That actually IS a Chinese proverb. How do you know that?"

"I read a lot."

"What's it mean?" Trowa asked, patting his pockets for a smoke.

"There's an argument between a bird, which stopped to drink at a well, and a frog, which is in the well. Deep down inside. They're arguing about what the sky looks like, and considering where they are, they each have a different view. The frog's vision was of course very limited. Therefore, this proverb refers to somebody who has a very narrow-minded and insulated view of what they see or what they think." Quatre turned to face Wufei. "Like you."

"Me!"

Trowa put a hand on Wufei's chest. "If you find yourself inna hole, de first ting to do is stop diggin'. Dat be a Cajun proverb."

Wufei blinked. "So you didn't exchange treasured heirlooms or buy expensive gifts?"

"I ain't no _parvenu_ (translation: an ill-bred, social-climbing man), Chang, and dat's a fact."

"We're HEEE-ERE!"

Duo's voice rattled the windows, and Wufei smiled. He was saved by the charming loud-mouthed fellow with a braid. Braid to his ass.

"Maxwell! Yuy! I have news!"

Quatre and Trowa said nothing more to Wufei. He knew he had jumped to conclusions, and knew they that they knew how repentant he was (not much.) Once they heard what he had discovered, though, they would understand why he was a little unbalanced this evening. The earring thing was a cruel joke anyway. He was positive, now that he understood the setup, that they planned this just to see his reaction, and he had fallen for it. He sure showed them a reaction. _Knee-jerk_.

That was the kind of behavior that set him back, that had driven him from his homeland to do penance in Sublimity. At that moment he had an epiphany. Penance in Sublimity. _Atoning for his shortcomings in the most utterly complete and beautiful place in the entire kingdom? How was this torture? What was this teaching him? Why…, this was the place he belonged! _Perhaps it was presumptive of him, second-guessing his clan's purposes. It wasn't that he failed in his L5 clan, but that he had outgrown the place._ At this rate_, he wondered, _how much longer would it be before the kingdom was too small for him? _

He was broken out of his pleasant reflections by a hardy slap on the back and more of Duo's voice, much closer this time.

"What news?"

Before he could begin, however, Quatre took charge and moved them all to the dining room. He and Quatre were both strong-willed and would forever be at odds, Wufei mused. He waited until Winner had a mouthful of food, and then revealed what he had unearthed that day.

"Dorothy Catalonia's family built the bridge."

"The laundry woman?" Duo asked, unconvinced.

"She wasn't always a laundress. Once she was Relena's best friend. In fact, from my gleanings off the society pages, Dorothy was a childhood friend of both Treize Khushrenada and Milliardo Peacecraft (as Zechs Merquise was known as as a child) in Sanc Royal, and then met Relena when visiting the summer home of Milliardo here. I assume this is how it went from the party announcements. Dorothy's family moved here, but her uncle remained in the big city, where she could visit her old friends frequently."

"And her father built a bridge?" Duo said.

"Yes, which was strange because overland trade was his business."

"And…?" Quatre prompted him.

"General Catalonia's name ring a bell to you?" he asked Quatre.

"Treize and Zechs' commanding officer was a General Catalonia," Quatre said. "You don't mean--! Are you implying General Catalonia is Dorothy's father? It isn't an uncommon name in Sanc."

"Not her father, but her much older uncle. Her father was ruined when the bridge was destroyed and died the next year in ill health. Her mother followed shortly thereafter. Dorothy was sent to live with her uncle, with whom she spent a great deal of time anyway. And that's just a start! Our lowly laundress' family tree has more interesting branches. Her grandfather is Duke Dermail."

"No!"

"Oh, yes. What's more, Duke Dermail's youngest sister was Treize's mother. So, it makes sense now that the three children Zechs, Treize, and Dorothy played together in the Sanc Kingdom."

"But this all happened long ago!" Quatre insisted.

"Not so. The bridge was built over a five year period and destroyed in an afternoon about twenty years ago."

"But the only time I heard it mentioned, it sounded like ancient history," Quatre said.

"I understood it to be in the far past also," Heero said.

"I guess to little kids every story we hear sounds like the events happened in the olden times," Quatre said. "Like when I—"

"What's more," Wufei interrupted, "I believe Noin's family helped destroy the bridge and ruined the Catalonia family. Not just for the reasons stated for hating what it did to their inn's business, but in ruining the Catalonia family financially it also spoiled their rise to power. Notice that it's Lucrezia that's on Zechs' arm now and not Dorothy."

Quatre paled. "That's monstrous!"

"You can't be sure though?" Duo asked Wufei.

"I trust the rumors that were later stifled by the powers that be." Wufei smiled slyly. "Because we all know that the most powerful force in the universe is gossip."

"So, why did a famous general's brother build a bridge in the first place?" Duo asked.

"That," Wufei said, "Is the family-fortune-busting question."

"We may never know," Quatre admitted.

"Had it been successful," Heero said, "he would have re-written the history of the area. River business would have been unnecessary because roadways would have been built and developed to carry more freight."

"And the Barton's were in the river business."

"So was Odin Lowe," Heero remarked. "If the Noin family needed a bridge torn out, they hadn't far to look for folks to do the job."

"Any of dem would have benefited," Trowa agreed.

"I wish we could follow the money trail on this," Wufei said. "I'll bet in the end that Treize ended up richer than the general and in a better position to rise to power."

"Oh, certainly," Quatre agreed. "General Catalonia would most certainly have been better positioned than a young Khushrenada to be Duke Dermail's second-hand man."

"And with his brother ruined and his family shamed, the General resigned his commission a few years later and retired."

"He's dead now," Quatre said. "Treize was the only on remaining who could take his place in the Duke's heart and mind."

"So now Treize wants to buy a Dukedom and take over? I don't know," Duo said.

Quatre shrugged his agreement. "Not that any of this has much to do with what's going on today, except that it explains the players a bit more."

That said, Heero dove into his desert with relish. Quatre smiled apologetically to Wufei, before tasting his lemon soufflé. Duo and Trowa were already halfway into their second servings.

"There is always some danger lurking; that's what it comes down to." Wufei refused to touch his delicate sweet until he'd said everything on his mind. Well, not the "Hilde" issues, but everything else. "The longer Trowa Barton is here, the closer Dekim is to catching him and the more dangerous our day-to-day living becomes."

"I should leave," Trowa said.

Quatre's crystal goblet rang discordantly when he dropped his spoon. "Nonsense," Quatre said, with a Duo echo behind him.

"I'm glad you have that injury," Quatre declared. "Otherwise I'd worry even more about you slipping away in the night."

Heat rose to Trowa's face, the most emotional response Wufei had seen from him yet. "I wouldn't do that, not without warning you first."

"Good!" Quatre said. He made no attempt to hide the delight in his voice. "Because I have an idea that will throw the Dekim gang off your tail. So, don't look so glum!"

"Glum isn't the word, Quat. 'Sorry-assed' and 'fucked-up's' more like it."

Quatre smiled at Duo then went on. "Trowa accompanies Heero and Wufei to Serendipity and makes it look like he's gone there to stay. Of course, he hides and makes it back onto the boat for the return trip. I think if you send a note and extend Miss Hilde an invitation to visit, Duo, she'd accept. Then, you could find a way to sneak Trowa on board with her—both at the same time, you understand? She can stay here at my estate and join us for Zech's party. I'll invite her in any case."

Wufei froze in place, his fork pose at the entry to his mouth. He just invited Hilde himself. _Had Quatre read his note? His mind?_ Of course, if she accepted the invitation, Winner's estate would be a better place for her to stay than his own humble abode, and more morally appropriate. So, this was a good thing, perhaps? He snapped at the tempting morsel and swallowed it down. It wasn't so hard to swallow a bite, when it was so sweet.

Heero apparently didn't mind the extra company and Trowa liked the idea of being able to look for signs of Middie and his missing skiff, neither of which he could do holed up in Winner's idyllic guest bedroom.

"I'll invite her personally, if I can go along, too," Duo said.

"Feeling left out?" Heero asked.

Heero might have insisted that he come, had Quatre not remarked faster with, "Oh, I have all kinds of appointments lined up for you."

Duo looked dubious. "For what?"

"Well, all this talk about Zechs' summer home got me to thinking. I really should think of your fishing cabin as investment property. So, to that effect, I'm bringing in workers to do the rest of the upgrade. No, no… I insist! What I need is an on-site construction manager. That's you."

Duo baulked at suggestion and the costs, but Quatre persisted. "We are running out of summer. I have the funding for plumbers, foundation men, and roofers galore. The local economy could use the influx of money anyway. It puts men to work."

_How could anyone argue with that,_ Wufei wondered? Even Duo gave up.Wufei decided Winner had the sharpest mind in all Sanc. Soon he'd have Duo and Heero's little cabin overlooking the Rogue River doubled in size. They would be able to enjoy the only indoor soaking tub in town and he'd have a nice little investment cottage when they left—if they left.

"After all," Wufei drawled, "your current temporary living accommodations-- sharing your house with Yuy-- isn't a simple _modus vivendi _arrangement.

"I'd call it more of a _pro boner_ - in favor of erections." Duo grinned.

"You made that up, didn't you? It certainly is not real Latin," Wufei told him with a professorial frown.

"Huh? You mean you were speaking a _real_ language?"

"Well, it's a dead language, but real, naturally--"

Quatre chuckled. "I got one!"

"One what?" Wufei asked like the perfect straight man.

"My own made-up word. 'Bureaucat.' That's a kitty who sleeps with your undies."

Wufei did his gaping carp impression. He knew it was unbecoming and tried to clamp shut his jaw, but failed.

"We should go," Heero said. "Early start and all."

"Especially the 'and all' part," Duo crowed. "Whooooweee! Night, y'all!"

End Chapter 12

* * *

Out of context interlude, with my apologies:

"What was with the stupid 'Bureaucat.' joke?"

"Yuy, be nice."

"Butt out, Barton."

"I almost goofed that up, didn't I?" Quatre asked.

"Yep. You got the wrong story, bud. Let me get rid of that page of your script. See? That was a page out of 'Band of Steel' – deleted scene, remember?"

"Oh, sorry! Heh, heh...thanks, Duo. I was using it as a page marker and sigh this story is filled with cats, too."

"It was a stupid joke then and stupider now."

"I agree with Yuy. That's why it was deleted in the first place. Of course, the entire kitten crap had no place in a band story. Cheap joke."

"'Fei, you always agree with 'Ro."

"The joke, such as it was, was badly told, too."

"'Nuff said, Yuy. Leave off Quatre now. And Chang, keep your nose outta this."

"Ooooh, Trowa's getting all macho on us. How about a fight? Mano y mano."

"Maxwell, shutup."

"Okay, 'Ro."

"I say Winner buys us all a round."

"Thanks, Heero! Drinks are all on me!"

--KS


	13. Chapter 13

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Wufei, Duo, Heero (POV)

* * *

Monday morning, Quatre's carriage dropped Trowa off at the dock where Heero was waiting with Duo. Duo would still rather be a worthless heap on the boat than remain at home and supervise construction workers. His words fluttered past Heero's ears, after making no impression on his decision to leave him behind. Mercifully, Wufei thought, he had missed most of Duo's ranting and only caught the tail end.

"Aw, 'Ro…"

"It's already decided. Ah, Chang's here, finally."

Wufei had overslept. Having lain awake most the night before, thinking about or worrying about Hilde, he made up for it by sleeping the sleep of the dead the next, and nearly missed the boat. He fussed and apologized, but no one cared.

"It's gonna be boring," Duo whined.

Heero returned to reassuring Duo that he'd hurry back and Trowa was busy telling Quatre what amounted to the same thing. Wufei could have appeared in a cocktail dress and no one noticed. It was disgustingly adorable, so he huffed and he puffed and he jumped onboard, making plenty of noise in the process. He managed to rock the boat sufficiently so that Heero grabbed his pole, and with a few last words, the flatboat shoved off.

The weather was hot and fine. Heero and Trowa were the quiet sort, not given to distracting conversation, or any at all if unbidden. So, as the current took them on their southern route fast and smooth, Wufei had plenty of time to think.

He recalled his last hours with Hilde with fondness. Sometimes when Hilde would be telling a story Wufei noticed that she would pause and stare off into the distance, then start right back up where she'd left off. Sure, you might think that she was simply taking a moment to collect her thoughts. But he saw it another way: her mind was being overwhelmed by two processes that must simultaneously proceed at full steam. One was to deal with and live in the present world. The other was to re-experience everything on the mystical path to enlightenment. It was as though her lightness pulled her toward heaven, but the extra gravity of her powerful meditations forever kept her earthbound.

_Or was it that he thought too much?_

He shook away that thought and wondered what Hilde was doing. At this time, he supposed, Miss Hilde was out salvaging with her entourage of misfits, the Sweepers. Wufei had to admit that his plans to impress Hilde would eventually misfire like a wet pistol if he didn't come clean about his position in Sublimity. She was pretty down-to-earth. It was time to do the manly thing: to meet her without deception. He decided to present himself as the out-of-favor sword-master and poor school teacher that he was, who was also looking for a life mate.

This seemed to be the honest thing to do. Especially after the letter he sent, which, most likely, was filled with gibberish; although, he couldn't actually remember what he'd finally written about himself. It probably kept him sane, forgetting his manic outbursts.

It was the next step that flustered him. Possibly more than all the others. He didn't know if he wanted to invite Hilde to visit Sublimity until the "him-as-an-outcast-school-teacher-presentation-thing" was worked out. He really wanted to build on the sword-master persona he'd pulled off before. His racial makeup and class had passed muster, and his fighting ability had been striking. He had made that critical good First Impression, thankfully, but the "outcast, lost inheritance, and poor part" was something for a maturing relationship, not the very beginning. No, his humiliating past would be nice to drop over drinks on a third date, no, possibly after marriage. But he had come to invite her to his home and to Zechs party--

"Hold our position and I'll tie us up!"

Wufei snapped to attention and did as Heero ordered. They had made an earlier stop in Tumbletown, which he didn't remember, eaten lunch, another forgettable stop, and now they were already at their destination. And yet, the first thing entering his mind was "I should see Hilde while I'm relatively clean, before I stink of loading tobacco."

As it turned out, he wasn't given a choice. Heero was all work oriented. "Work-centric" Duo would have called him, Wufei thought with a smile. No, "workaholic". "Workamanic".

"Chang, move out of the way!"

Hilde must have had Howard on the look out for them, because the old man scuttled out of nowhere, dragging Trowa off and yelling something about meeting for drinks at someplace Wufei hoped Heero knew about, because not only didn't he catch the name, he wouldn't have known where to find it anyway.

"Did you catch that? Chang! C'mon."

Wufei grumbled in return, "Stop yelling at me," even though he knew he'd deserved it.

Wufei's next contact with Hilde, which occurred a few tobacco-loading and "marching through the blistering hot, crowded streets in Yuy's wake" hours later, rapidly spiraled out of his control. His hopes seemingly determined to crash and burn, a total failure, with an explanation.

Wufei and Heero met up with Hilde, Howard, and a dolled up Trowa-- "dolled up" as in dressed like a lady and tucked into a dark corner seat of the inn dining room. Wufei was mulling over his speech and drinking an astonishing quantity of ale to quench his thirst, when Hilde made some observation, which he half heard, but felt predisposed to comment upon.

"How poignant," Wufei observed.

"Aw, it's not really all that meaningful." Hilde was smiling anyway, as if she could be pleased that Wufei thought her remark was particularly penetrating regardless of how inane it had really been.

"He meant the cheese." Heero looked away from his serving. He had already pointed out that he liked the sharp cheddar a lot and had asked Hilde whether he should take a piece home to Duo or finish it all now.

Hilde laughed aloud. "Poignant! Oh, yeah, as in sharp. Sharp cheese! Ha, ha, ha! That's a good one!"

Wufei was taken aback. _Where did that sullen, sobersides Yuy come up with material like that_? The feeling that he was losing to a glowering river rat knocked the stuffing out of Wufei_. What did that make him, then? _Wufei had to turn the conversation around to favor him.

To be frank, Trowa was a huge distraction. In a short, dark wig, shawl, and one of Hilde's, he guessed, long skirts, he looked like Hilde's taller, skinnier, sister. He blended comfortably into the banquet, smoking one of his, now her, cigarettes like he'd, now she'd, belonged there all his, now her, life. Wufei stared owlishly at Trowa and drank more.

"I don't suppose you received my letter?" Wufei blurted out.

"Oh, yes, I did." Hilde patted her bosom, where the letter crinkled. "So, you never told me you were such close buddies with THE Quatre Winner. He invited me to his place for a visit and to some big shindig that Zechs Merquise is throwing. THE Merquise! I can't believe it! That true? 'Cause, if it is I gotta get me a new dress, and quick!"

"There's no time for visit to dress makers," Heero said. "We go back tomorrow, with or without you."

"What?" Hilde spun on him ready for a fight.

To deflect the strike, Wufei put in, "It's a garden party. Merquise said it will be very casual. I'm sure anything you have will be quite adequate—"

Hilde wheeled about and grabbed him by the back of the neck. "You have no idea how society works, do you? C'mon, my clueless stud. It's still light outside. You're taking me shopping in town. I know a place where the alterations take no time at all. Oh, and about your note… Cute. It's my first real love letter."

"But!"

Wufei didn't have money for fancy dress buying. This was one aspect of women he could do without and here he was shopping with Hilde, again. Strong little fingers gripped his arm and a soft chuckle tickled his ear.

"Don't look so worried, sweetie. I have simple tastes and the money to indulge them."

"You rascal," Trowa said under his breath, just loud enough that Wufei heard him in passing.

"So, where's Duo?" Howard asked. "Left'im behind this time, did ya?"

Before Wufei could participate in the answer, Hilde had him by the arm and on his way out the door, entering the world of Serendipity couture, such as it was.

(o)

Duo had sulked most of the day until he found his stride with the construction workers, was nearly back to his old self by the time Quatre dropped by with a late afternoon snack and an update, and was lonely and depressed by night with only Ruggles for company. It hurt Duo to be apart from Heero. He felt actual stomach pains. To fall asleep he visualized Heero walking in the door any moment.

Heero was gone all the next day, too. Duo expected him by the afternoon, but by the time the shadows lengthened and the sun rays grew golden, he still hadn't turned up, and Duo began to worry. He made a list of everything that could possibly go wrong and convinced himself that between Heero, Wufei, Hilde and even Trowa they could take on any problem and solve it. _So why wasn't Heero back?_

He paced the front porch with Ruggles worrying around him in circles. Just as he thought he could take the agonizing no more-- the nerve-whacking circular thinking, the churning of his guts, even the reoccurring threat of tears—Ruggles barked.

"Is that a light? Is that Heero? Yes!"

Duo rushed out the door and met Heero coming up the walk with a lantern in one hand. Ruggles nudged himself between the two boys, begging for Heero's attention. Duo took the knapsack from Heero's other hand, leaving it free to pet the needy little pooch. Duo could wait until they were home, but Ruggles needed his master's reassuring touch right now.

"Hey, you're kinda late. Trouble?"

"Not really. It just took longer dropping Trowa and Hilde off. Chang…"

Whatever he was going to say, Heero deemed less important than just getting inside. He climbed the steps to their cabin and opened the door. "It just took longer than expected to drop them off."

"You look bushed. Want something to eat? A beer?"

"Yes."

Heero collapsed on the sofa. Since Duo knew he hated that particular piece of furniture, it was a clear indication of how exhausted his lover truly was. Heero rarely complained, so this was his way of protesting life in general.

Duo put together a plate of crackers, cheese, and dried plums and grabbed a cool beer from the insulated storage carved below the flooring. He delivered the plate and bottle to Heero, removed Ruggles from the sofa, and sat in the freed-up space.

"What about 'Tro?"

"He's back and okay. We wasn't recognized. Hilde dressed him like a woman and Howard carried him like a bride to the boat."

"Ha! I wished I coulda seen that!"

"Yeah. Hilde made a fuss about arranging a wedding for her cousin to Winner. It convinced a few shocked onlookers. . Trowa was a cool character. He makes a very convincing…ah… young lady."

"Would have loved to have seen 'Fei's face."

"Pretty funny. He hadn't expected all that, but he played along fine, for him."

"'Fei always looks pissed off." Duo batted Ruggles "you greedy thief's" muzzle away, stole a cracker himself, and munched. "If you can't convince them, confuse them, I always say. So, word's out that Trowa Barton's on the move?"

"Howard's on it, though, I expect Winner's been busy, too."

"He's really interested in protecting that guy."

"I've never seen Quatre Winner willing to go out of his way to help one of his infatuations."

"You want more to eat? I got deja stew." To Heero's quizzical look he explained, "leftovers."

"Ah, no thanks. I'm okay now."

"Quat's in love. That's what he says. He told me, 'Duo, I'm in love with him. He's not perfect, but that's what makes him perfect for me.' Yup, that's what he said."

"That's stupid. He can't know the guy well enough to know that."

"I knew how I felt about you right off. I'm still finding out about your dark secrets." Duo smiled and punched Heero's arm. "'Sides, they're not sleeping together—"

"Yet." Heero smiled slightly. "Quatre's not shy."

"Tro's a good sort, if you would just get past his last name."

"I can do that. I'm not that shallow." Heero took another swig. "How's the construction coming along?"

"Marvy-poo. Pour enough money into something and eventually it gets done, but with me on it gets done faster, better, and with half the funds. I don't let the workers get away with anything and they respect me."

"Good. And the addition?"

"Coming along. Foundation is complete. Plumbing done except for the fixtures. Structure goes up inna few days. Then roof, windows, and…" He paused. "Heero? Let's get you to bed and talk in the morning, okay?"

Heero grunted and let Duo pull him to his feet. "'Kay. What's the matter?"

Duo tried to deny anything was wrong but Heero gripped his shoulders, holding him still. He couldn't budge. When Heero's fingers dug deeper, he gave in to the pressure. "It's just… well … Love's not what I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong! It's great! Most of the time… I thought it would be like, you know, walking on air and feeling happy all the time. But, Heero… it hurts! It just about tore me up inside missing you and it was only a couple days! Last night was hell! It's like love turned inside out!"

At that moment Duo was certain he'd said too much. He'd scare Heero away with all that neediness. He turned away to gather himself and make a joke. _He could think up a joke, couldn't he?_

"Idiot," Heero murmured in his ear as he wrapped him in an unyielding embrace. "That's how you know we're real. Dream lovers are just that, perfect dreams."

"You don't think someone can love someone else too much?"

"You can never love too much."

"Aw, you're such a romantic, 'Ro."

"Hn." Heero tried on a scowl and failed. "C'mon, I need the real thing. Maybe we can try something new, yeah?"

"New?" Duo decided he'd regained enough of his flexibility to try some bed gymnastics. "How about we suck each other off at the same time?"

"Is that possible?"

"Yeah, babe; at least, so I've heard. Never tried it."

"Good."

And then Duo kissed him, pouring as much passion as he could into it. If Heero didn't think he was obsessed with him, then he'd suffer the consequences.

(o)

The week passed with Wufei going north with Heero a couple times, delivering freight to Tumult. Duo supervised the house progress on the addition and entertained Hilde, sometimes alone and sometimes accompanied by Trowa and Quatre. Trowa had to keep a low profile, always dressed as Claire, Hilde's cousin, and kept to the Winner estate. The first day Heero was gone, Quatre took both Hilde and him to see Duo, and they all watched the new framing go up for the new bedroom.

Trowa told them about his stay at the cabin, before Duo's arrival, the terrible mouse-ridden mattress, and how he snagged and cooked a 'possum in the fireplace for his dinner. When he offered to stay and keep Duo company that night, though, Duo didn't know how to react.

"W-what?"

Duo blanched. He couldn't look Quatre in the eyes. He felt terrible for his friend and angry at Trowa for even suggesting something like that with Heero gone and Quatre standing RIGHT THERE. Hilde (kiss her axe) saved them all from making asses of themselves.

"Why that's so sweet of you, Trowclair, especially knowin' how fond you are of your current lodgings, but that won't be necessary. I know, _I know_! I tol' Heero-dear I'd rather sleep in your sweet Quatre's barn than sleep on this nasty old sofa, but I've changed my mind. I see just how impossible it is for Quatre-sweetcakes to part with you, and you are far too tall to fit on this thing, and I know Heero-dear would make lampshades out of your worthless Cajun hide if you so much as touched his bed. So, I'll stay. That's all I was tryin' to say. We wouldn't want Duo-dear to stay out here on his lonesome."

"Dat's fine, real fine, Hilde. Ah am grateful," Trowa said. He did look relieved, too, but not more so than Quatre.

"You mean Heero asked you guys to baby sit me while he's gone?" Duo shouted. "That's…that's just so…"

Quatre was grinning, now. "How thoughtful of him!"

"But don't be too hard on your little sweetie-cums, okay? He was so worried about you being here all alone. I guess he drove Wufei nuts on their last trip. Wuffy told me that they nearly came to blows. He made Heero promise to talk to us and get us to take turns staying here at night."

"He did?" Duo looked around at Quatre and Trowa's nodding heads. "Shit. Well, okay. Hilde can stay. The bed's real big and_Wuffy_- God I love that nickname. Do you think he'd let me call him that? No? Hmmm. Well, _Wuffy_ will love knowing I got to sleep with you before him. Heh, heh."

Hilde punched him for that and with sleeping arrangements and snack complete, Quatre and Trowa bid them adieu and left. Duo was in a fine mood. He was touched by Heero's caring, even though he knew he should stand up for his manhood and object to such pandering of his fears. Heero cared and that mattered more. And Hilde's cheerfulness lifted his spirits, too. She seemed to be enjoying her first vacation in the resort-like estate of Quatre Winner. Stepping down to Duo's "hut" wasn't so attractive, Duo bet, but for a night or two if she was game it would actually help distract Duo from his lover's absence.

"So, how's if feel being a rich girl again?" Duo asked, kidding her a little.

"Wonderful! Why it's so fun staying with little Quatre. It's like reliving my childhood. With a brother. He is so cute, too bad he's a swish. I mean, you wouldn't guess unless you watched him with his dashing Cajun. Oh, man, now there's a fellow a girl could fall for, except for the fruity part. It's just amazing, isn't it, how you couldn't find a man and now you are one of four guys that like other men? They don't call it Sublimity for nothing, eh? Duo? Duo, are you listening?"

"Yeah, Hilde. I'm sorry I ever told you I liked guys. I really am."

"Duo, you are such an ignoranus!"

"I think you said that wrong. It's ig-nor-a-mus."

"Oh, no I didn't. I meant ignor_anus_ - a person who's stupid at_both _ends!"

And Duo thought that was very funny and they got along swimmingly like the old friends they were. And Duo wasn't so lonely. And neither was Hilde. The rest of the week passed quickly after that, and soon Heero and Wufei were home for the weekend.

(o)

The day began as bright and warm as any other day, the sky no more or less blue, the grass as green. They were lying side by side on the mattress, silently together, drowsing in the summer warmth. Heero was watching Duo's eyes as he gazed upwards, his violet-blue eyes following the birds flitting in and out of the sunbeams in the trees. Heero laid his hand on Duo's chest. Duo smiled without looking.

"Hmm?" Duo asked, his voice soft, relaxed.

Heero leaned over him and smiled down at his friend. Duo raised his eyebrows, grinning.

"Okay?" Duo asked, his voice now playful. "Glad to be home still?"

Heero thought he heard a hint of summer sun in his cheerful voice, and the sounds of Duo were, to him, the sounds of happiness. He had never known this kind of happiness before meeting Duo, so he knew Duo was the sole cause. Heero traced a finger down the side of Duo's face, marveling at the softness of his skin and the heat it still gave off an hour after passionate love-making. As his emotions swelled and pushed at the gates to his heart, he drew his breath. He hesitated to express how he felt, but Duo's sparkling eyes reassured him. Heero threw open the stronghold and let in the sunshine.

"I love you, Duo."

Heero leaned down and kissed Duo on the lips gently but firmly, the softness of those lips sending shivers down his trim body. His heart opened, leaving him exposed and vulnerable as a bird's egg. Heero leaned in again and pressed his lips to Duo's cheek. The touch of his lips against the skin warm and filled with life sent a shuddering pleasure through Heero.

"I love you so much."

"Yeah, well it won't get you out of going to Zechs' party."

"No, but this might delay it," Heero murmured as he proceeded to find a way to satisfy both their needs at once.

Heero didn't complain when Quatre showed up at their door only an hour later, offering them the use of his facilities to bathe. He suspected Quatre didn't trust them to show up, mostly because he knew why Heero wanted to avoid meeting Relena.

"A woman scorned," and all.

Everyone cleaned up and changed into their nicest clothes at Winner's house except Wufei, who had an operational washroom of his own. Wufei walked over the Winner's later that afternoon to join Quatre, Duo, Wufei, Hilde, and Trowa for the short ride up the hill to Zechs home.

As they climbed out of the pair of carriages it took to carry them all, Quatre reminded everyone, "Remember who you are and the roles you're playing."

Trowa tugged at his high-throated blouse designed to cover his Adam's apple. "Dat's your idea of a joke, right?"

"C'mon cousin Claire. Pick up your skirts and… was that a drop of rain I felt?" Hilde asked.

"Yeah, got it," Duo replied. "Hey! Look at the princess in pink over there."

"That," Heero growled. "Is Relena and she is a princess, more or less."

What had started out a beautiful sunny day, turned dark with ominous clouds the moment they arrived. It was no surprise to Heero, who had spent most of his life out of doors observing nature, when the rain began. They passed close to the princess on their run indoors.

"The idea of a garden party was stupid anyway," he overheard Relena tell her older half-brother. "You don't even bother to plant flowers or keep a gardener."

"I'm not here enough to enjoy this place much. When I do have time I prefer boating and staying closer to the river."

"Well, I'm going in," she snapped.

Heero shook his head and watched the men part for Relena, their own dripping black umbrellas synchronizing to cover her bright pink one.

"See that?" Quatre pointed at the extraordinary umbrella display. "It's like watching something from as old musical routine."

He and Quatre shared a smile and a common past, having both turned Relena away because they were homosexuals. So far, she had kept their secrets as promised, but that didn't mean she was particularly friendly toward them.

Zechs' fortress looked marble cold and cavernous, more the crumbling remains of a house of banished royalty than a home. He lived alone, or that was the impression Heero had gotten from Quatre. Once inside, Heero crossed to the sofa and far away from where Relena had sat. There was nothing behind his shoulder but the high Gothic window, out of which, when he twisted around, he could see a sadly neglected garden. Sublimity was touted as a land of great natural beauty, but he could see none here.

_Why did the great Zechs Merquise live here alone_, he wondered? Lucrezia Noin graced his arm as if she belonged there. _Why didn't they marry and share this house?_ Why did the distant mountains, the rocky land, the deserted garden strike Heero as plundered and tormented?

Well, not totally alone. There was the ancient doorman, cook, maid, and scattering of basic serving staff, but that was all. No fine woman or children or coachman, games keeper, and the usual assortment of staff required by Sanc's elite.

The man in question himself strode to the huge fireplace set with a raging fire. "Thank you all for coming here today. For those of you who know what I'm about to announce, keep it to yourselves. It's my news to tell."

A few chuckles circled the room.

"For the sake of brevity, you are here to celebrate my good fortune. I just received a commendation and reassignment from the rank of Lieutenant to a full Colonel."

His news was met with a round of applause and cheers. He signaled for champagne to be distributed and glasses were raised and emptied in his honor. After a few minutes, the conversations returned and the guests clustered like ducks on a lake. Heero wished to be back home with Duo, and was picturing them swimming out the door, when Heero felt Duo nudge his elbow.

"Look over there. Our Miss Claire is drawing suitors."

Heero skimmed the room for the Cajun and when he located him, uttered a short aborted laugh. The tall, lissome stranger had attracted the attentions of several young men that even he recognized as hungry. Feeling their eye's on him, perhaps, Trowa stared in Duo's direction and began to pry one of the more ardent men off him. The man, still seemingly unaware of the situation, brought his face down to his and slowly brought his lips forward for a kiss. From out of nowhere, Winner appeared, a cup of punch in each hand, jostled the forward man, and interrupted the tender moment.

Duo laughed. "Wonder what he said to him? That man's streaking off now."

"Knowing Winner, it was something novel, like 'be careful, she's got a medical problem that's cost her the use of one leg already.'"

"Naw, too weird. Probably something slicker like: 'hands off my girl or I'll buy your inheritance out from under you'. Ha! Hilde's on him now. C'mon. I gotta hear this."

Heero followed close, but not too close. He wouldn't want the other guests to suspect he and Duo were anything but work mates and friends. "She looks nice."

"Which one?"

"Hilde, of course. I'm curious about how she likes Sublimity. Chang's been dancing on nails all week."

Hilde wasn't giving away anything of her innermost thoughts; instead, she was nagging Trowa, the Miss Claire, about his health care.

"…And you traveled all the way to Serendipity when you should have been resting!"

"And lived to tell about it," Trowa admitted. His soft, husky voice added to his allure.

The eyes that Hilde leveled on him would have been ice cold blue had they not been flashing. She stood and smoothed her new dress, crisp in a steely blue fabric that matched those eyes. Hilde was off now, hands on her slim hips.

"Claire! You're my favorite cousin and I care about you. You promised that doctor that you wouldn't exert yourself in any way, that you wouldn't go out, that you'd stay in bed as much as possible."

"Ah lied."

Well, that flummoxed her. She was gathering up her argument, getting it into full gear, which of course demanded a fellow arguer, and Trowa wasn't doing it. He smiled, fractionally. Hilde had to search around for another tactic.

"It's not very considerate, that's all, I mean to me and Mr. Winner. As all we do is worry, wondering if you're okay. Is there much pain still from you, ah, accident?"

At this point Quatre made his presence known again.

"She's right. You're tiring yourself out; you should be _relaxing_--"

"Now there's a word I'll bet Tro would be happy to shoot where it stood, along with 'share'," Duo commented to Heero only.

Quatre continued, "—so, maybe you'd like to share your thoughts in private, Miss Claire?"

Heero laughed aloud, louder than his other friends had ever heard. Quatre was teasing his friend, but he had had to watch several men fondle him before he stepped in to chase them away. Now Trowa would pay, and from the glint in Hilde's eyes, Quatre should, too, for leaving his 'intended' alone in a sea of strangers.

"Only if you'd like to share the story of _your_ last romance with everyone," Hilde dared Quatre.

"Um, we didn't hit it off."

Heero thought Quatre's smile was rather vicious. It was as if he didn't know who or what to train his anger on, so he kept it up in the air like a spinning plate.

Trowa added a wry smile. "At least you found out befo' tings went too far."

"Yes, thank you… Claire. I dropped her like a hot potato. Oh, look! It's our host coming across!"

"Zechs?" Heero muttered, looking around. No Miss Noin. "He looks serious."

"You'd think he was crossing the Styx and not the living room," Wufei said, joining the group. "Did I miss anything? One of my nasty little pupils' equally revolting parents is here and demanded an update."

"Only Quatre and Hilde trading insults." Heero smiled and turned back to Quatre, who had changed topics.

"What's six inches long, two inches wide, and drives women wild?" Quatre was asking her. "I'll tell you-- money. What did you think I meant? Sex? Women don't want sex. Women want money. Men, now, they want sex. They're the ones with the money."

Heero overheard two young ladies comment about Quatre.

"He's such a martinet. No girl's good enough for him."

"Okay, maybe he's a bit of a perfectionist, but he's a dishy one."

"He's rich."

"And, apparently, taken."

"He's right, too. About women wanting money."

"I hear Miss Claire comes with plenty herself, so maybe it's true love this time."

The ladies shared a significant sigh, and then whispers and snickers followed, so Heero turned back to his own group. By this time, Zechs had wound his way through the crowd to stand beside Quatre.

"You're all standing here in a knot and having too much fun. None of you appear to be taking the occasion seriously."

"Which is why you are here," Quatre said. "Where the fun is."

"Absolutely."

"I have some introductions to make," Quatre said. "Hilde, may I introduce the honorable Zechs Merquise. And this is Wufei Chang's guest, Lady Hilde Schbeiker."

Zechs bowed and kissed her hand, "Miss Hilde—"

"And Miss Claire—"

At this time, Heero caught sight of Relena again. He turned away from his friends to meet Relena face on and get the awkward reunion over with. He hadn't tried to approach her, preferring to keep a low profile and avoid confrontation or bringing up old and not so pleasant times with the corresponding memories. But she appeared to have other ideas.

"Heero."

"Relena."

"What are you doing here?"

"Zechs invited me-- us."

"Stop staring at me like that. I did stopping chasing after you."

"I know, although I tried to forget."

"I can't forget," Relena said. "Women don't forget. We suffer from the deepest feelings."

"I thought that was elephants that don't forget," Duo said, yawning and joining their tête-à-tête.

"Maybe you should have," Heero said to Relena.

Her look, when he said this, was not at him, but at Duo. What surprised Heero was that she still harbored those feelings after several years. Then he thought, how predictable. Feelings, he well knew, could last a life time. Anyone who thought time healed all wounds must have sustained only the most minor lacerations.

"Cats seem to remember every fault done them," Duo mused. He brought the others with him like an entourage. In particular, Zech towered over him, luminous like a specter.

By Relena hovered another man and woman Heero didn't know. The doughy-looking man remained close to Relena at all times, probably an admirer or her beau. The woman, whose ordinary features matched his, was possibly the man's sister or relation. The man cut off the plainer woman's chatter with a sharp look Heero didn't like, and then attended to Relena's conversation, clinging to her every word.

"I don't like cats," Relena said. "They are sneaky."

"On the contrary," Zechs said, "they are perfectly open about flouting rules or stealing fish bits off your plate."

Relena looked to Heero for support. "You know what I mean."

Actually, Heero didn't. It irritated him to death that she really thought "you-know-what-I-mean" was an answer. He decided to tell her about his own household.

"We have a dog and a cat," Heero said tonelessly.

"You and--?" she prompted.

"Duo--"

Before Heero finished, the man at Relena's elbow cut in as if he were conversing with the other woman at his side. His voice was louder than polite, and his point sharp and unmistakable. Obviously, he'd come prepared to have his say and had only been waiting for an opening.

"I believe the use of the word 'faggot' in reference to homosexuals is a bit more gruesome than the one you were thinking of, my dear sister. 'Faggots' are kindling, and homosexuals when burned at the stake, are considered the kindling, tossed as so many branches onto a fire. In reference to witches, I have also heard the explanation that homosexuals were burned with suspected witches; the homosexuals being the kindling for the witches. Isn't that true, Colonel Merquise?"

"We are no longer in Sanc Royal, and these are no longer the dark ages. I would like to think we have become more civilized with time." Zechs turned his smile to the beautiful young man with the long braid. "And Duo Maxwell, we meet again, or should I call you Lord Maxwell ?"

"Lord… eh? Duo's fine, just fine."

"Then you must call me Zechs."

"Yeah, sure, Zechs."

Relena took a renewed interest in the handsome, young man Heero was cohabitating with. "Lord Maxwell? You are not from around here, for surely I would know you."

"I'm from Serendipity, but originally from L2."

"L2?" It might have been the moon. "Never been there."

"L2," Zechs repeated, as if the rest of them hadn't got nationalities worked out. "Has its share of successful families. Now, Mr. Winner tells me Lord Maxwell recently inherited his father's fortune. Does this mean you will be leaving us and returning to your properties in L2?"

"Ah, no. Don't think so. Still got stuff to do at the house, you know."

Heero could tell this part of the act hadn't been scripted and Duo was thinking on his feet. He searched out Quatre, hoping he could bail Duo out, since he certainly couldn't. It did seem to silence Relena and her chums. Yes, Relena was gorgeous, quite prepared to astound any newcomer, but she was being outshone by Duo, who was a new comer with a title. Relena was like a floral centerpiece, but Duo was the guy the party suddenly revolved about, the one with the money, the title, the land, and the privilege—all possibly attained by foul means, but wasn't it always at some point by someone? She seemed not to know whether to disdain all that or try to get her hands on it, and this amused Heero as he watched her.

"Winner tells me you've been arguing the workmen at the cabin out of wasting time and overspending, Duo." Zechs was ready to provide Duo with all the cues necessary, it seemed, while Winner busied himself hand-feeding Trowa hors d'oeuvres.

"Well, if you know what you're talking about fine, but when you don't a little bullshit sometimes saves tons of explanation. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People who know this steer clear of me at parties, which explains why you're still listening. Often, as a sign of their great respect, folks don't even invite me, ha, ha, ha!"

Duo was on a roll now.

"All it takes is knowin' the rules. For starters, get plastered. Then, when some hotshot pointy-head is shootin' the breeze 'bout the economy of Sanc, a subject you are totally clueless about, you're not afraid to hop right in with your opinion. See, if you were drinking something tame like…like apple juice, you'd hang back afraid to display your stupidity, while the hotshot enthralls your date. But if you drink several large shots of white lightening or…what's this crap?"

"The finest champagne in all of Sanc?" Zechs provided, adding a refined hand gesture.

"Right, well, then, well shellacked, you'll discover you have STRONG VIEWS about the Sanc economy. You'll be a WEALTH of information. Your argument will be so kick-ass, offering searing insights and possibly upsetting furniture. People will be impressed. Some may leave the room."

"Some already have."

"Only Relena," Heero supplied. "Go on. What remarkable things do you say about the economy?"

"More importantly, how does one pull that off, you ask? Simple. Make things up. Suppose, in the Sanc economy argument, you are trying to prove that the Sanc common folk are underpaid, a position you base solely on the fact that YOU are underpaid, and you are not going to let a bunch of Sanc good-for-nothing loafers be better off than you. DON'T say: 'I think the Sanc commoners are underpaid.' What kinda punch does that have? You sound like a damned whining sniveler. Say instead: 'The average commoner's pay in the current currency adjusted for the revised tax base is three hundred pounds, 30 shekels, and one pim per annum, which is one hundred pounds, ten pims before the mean gross poverty level.'"

He grinned. "Fucking impressive, huh? It only works if you make up exact figures. Who can remember crap like that anyway? And certainly not when you're plotzed!"

"But let's suppose this…hotshot… who's after your, ah, date asks you where you got your information?" Zechs asked. Heero thought he appeared to be enjoying this game and the charming Lord Maxwell, his charming Duo.

"Hell, make THAT up too. Say: 'This information comes from Dr. J's study for the Gundam Commission published in the June issue two years ago. Didn't you read it?' Say this in the same tone of voice you would use to say, "You left your dirty socks under my bed."

"That part's important," Heero deadpanned. It was difficult to tell if he was teasing Duo or being part of his joke.

"It's all important, didn't I say that already? Especially the end. Always end your arguments with some meaningless but weighty-sounding words and phrases. What was that one you told be about 'Fei? Q.E.R?"

"Q.E.D."

"Yeah, that's short for 'I speak Latin, and you don't.'"

"I think another example would be helpful," Zechs said with a beguiling smile.

"Oka-ay. So, you want to say: 'The Sanc citizenry would like to take boat rides more often, but they don't have enough money.' Man, you'll never win arguments talking like that. But you WILL win if you say, 'If it were that, in terms of excursions, vis-à-vis Sanc citizens qua Sanc citizens, they would like partake of it on boats more often, so to speak, but they do not have enough money per se, as it were. Q.E.D."

"Only a fool would challenge that statement," Zechs said, chuckling. "But you left out your most cunning tactic."

"Whazzat?"

"The use of snappy and irrelevant comebacks. You use an arsenal of all-purpose irrelevant phrases to fire back at your opponents when they make valid points. I've seen no better attack on the battle field!"

"Oh yeah? Okay, so, if I say 'The king was saying last month that'—"

"But he died last year!" Hilde cut in.

"Then Lord Maxwell would say 'That's begging the question,'" Zechs deadpanned.

"I see. Okay, then… Pirates are upstanding citizen of Sanc," Hilde said.

"They're the worst creatures on earth! What are you thinking?" Wufei said, a grin spreading.

"You're being defensive," Heero snapped.

"No, you're trying to compare apples to oranges." Quatre started to laugh, having fun with this game.

"You're all talking nonsense! Stop it!" Relena cried out.

"I thought you had gone." Heero looked her over as if to assure himself of her continued existence.

"You are so… cold!" Relena cried out, and then stomped away with her entourage following in her wake.

"That took longer that I'd hoped," Zechs said, watching the others leave. "Still, I'll have to have you give me a few pointers, Duo and Yuy, too. Cold and calculating. Anyway, so far so good. We have your identities established and your faces known to important people that matter in the area's society. Now, down to business. This way is my private office."

End Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Fourteen**

Heero, Quatre (POV)

A/N: Nearly half of this is a lemon, so if 4x3 slash isn't to your taste, please skip the last 5 pages. You won't miss any plot, heh, heh…

* * *

Zechs led Heero and his friends to his private office off the foyer and closed the door. Heavy dark furniture, centuries old, seemed layered with lineage just like the tall man leaning on the edge of his desk. Heero was ready to withhold his judgment, but knowing that Colonel Merquise and Governor Treize had been childhood chums and military comrades of the man, didn't that loyalty come into question? Heero hoped Dekim Barton and the governor had no allegiance that would put this man's friendship with Winner to the test. 

"Man, what a fucking idiot. Quat, who was that fag-hater with Relena?"

"Marquis Weiridge. I don't like him either, but, shhh, I think Zechs has something to say."

"War," Zechs began.

He looked out the window at the gray sky and distant trees thrashing in the rain. It was a fitting backdrop for the subject. Heero wanted him to just get on with whatever he had to say.

"Far north there's civil war and blockades have been established up and down the routes to keep the opposition from getting southern goods. To strangle and isolate them." Zechs repeated with emphasis, "Duke Dermail ordered a blockade of the ports using his navy. As reasonable as this seems, there's more."

Zechs pulled the heavy silk drapery to cordon off the dreary view. "On the other side of the northern border, foreigners are lending support to the rabble-rousers. To combat them and shut down those ports, he's engaged Dekim Barton. His mercenaries are to capture the protecting forts then occupy the port cities themselves. The duke can't use his own forces because—"

"Because that would be illegal," Wufei put in. "It would be an act of aggression against our neighboring kingdom, and the Sanc citizenry wouldn't allow that unless there was proof of an act of war."

"Correct, and, so far, he's keeping this skirmish secret. He's afraid it would be taken as a sign of weakness that he can't keep the peace. I just returned from a tour of duty in the North and saw for myself what was going on. So far, Barton's been unable to completely blockade the coast; there are simply too many inlets, islands, hidden coves, and bogs to guard completely. Many blockade runners are doing brisk business shipping arms, perfumes, and other luxuries and necessities through Barton's blockade. Pirates have taken wholesale smuggling to new technological heights."

"Dekim, he's playing bod sides o'da war," Trowa said. "We know he's got folks in wid de pirates. We saw dem in Serendipity."

Zechs nodded, accepting the information as something he'd already been familiarized with, and gazed at Winner. Heero hadn't thought it was that obvious and assumed Trowa had previously shared his suspicions and ideas with Winner.

"Treize Khushrenada's the pivotal player, we think," Quatre said. "He's employed the engineer Tsubarov-- again. This time we all believe he's designed a steam engine, which Dekim heard about somehow and needs Treize to fund the building of them for powering boats."

"Treize building and supplying Dekim Barton exclusively. That would be a dangerous combination. I know Treize holds an interest in a company making metal-clad wagons." Zechs shook his head in a way Heero thought was a pensive and sad wiping away of the possibility.

Wufei smiled. "Oh my, it doesn't take much imagination to take that to Barton's mercenaries pirating about on powerful, armored steamboats."

Hilde spoke up. "What if Dekim's taking money from the Duke to provide mercenaries to fight this civil uprising, and also money from Khushrenada to mess with the Duke's plans? He's smart and keeps that low key by using pirate attacks to wear away at the blockades."

"And then Treize has the steam boat thing going to do what?"

"To build a secret navy of his own," Zechs supplied. "Powered and reinforced, his navy would be unbeatable. He could attack through L3 or L4, come right up the Rogue. He'd own the trade, the ports, the supplies, and then he could starve Sanc Royal out, only Dekim's men would be onboard piloting."

"And takin' it all over, eventually," Trowa muttered.

"We must stop Dekim," Heero said. "With him dead, all the plots fail."

"Dat's right. He has no number two, anymo."

Heero and Trowa exchanged knowing looks. Trowa had been Dekim's number two man? No wonder he was desperately seeking Trowa!

"Well, that's all well and good, but if it was that easy, someone would have eliminated him already." Wufei sounded confident, as if he knew he was right about that one. "A _ts'ai'fa_ we'd call it in L5."

"_Zaibatsu,_" Heero said. "That means about the same thing in Japanese. It's a wealthy clique usually based on a single influential family. Odin told me my father was the head of such an organization. Their control spreads like a spider web."

"A cartel," Winner commented quietly.

"So let's knock 'im off and get it over with," Duo said. "Before they grow into a really big spider."

Duo, Heero had discovered on numerous occasions, had a little spider phobia.

"That's not so simple," Quatre began.

"Dass rite. No one has 'cause he's on de move constantly and heavily guarded."

"You are, all of you, right. Defeating Dekim Barton will be no easy feat; still, the man must be stopped," Zechs said.

"Doing that could harm Treize and his interests. You know that. We know Treize is a friend of yours. Why are you helping us defeat the aims of your friend?" Heero asked, ever wary of the man serving with Treize and in the employ of the Duke.

"Because… he is blind to what is right. Defeating the Duke is all he can see. It's like…he's lost all sense of priorities except for what brings him closer to the throne."

"Our governor has no honor." That was Wufei's pronouncement. "Honor is the _summa bona_, the most desirable virtue for which man must aim."

"So it seems," Zechs agreed, his voice low, his eyes reflecting the sadness of his heart.

He ran his hand along the antique, worn desk and stared off to the side. Heero scanned the wall for the object of his fascination and landed on a portrait. He thought the wall hanging was seedy looking. A stalwart military figure, helmeted and upon a horse. Spots showed wear. The horse's tail was frayed to the raw backing. The horse and the rider were fading, as if the war had gone on too long. It was like that throughout the house, Heero thought. Nothing wasted or wrecked, just suffering from the onslaught of time. And the man standing in front of him kept constant contact with it. _Was Zechs lost in the past? Comfortable in it? Or afraid of the future?_

"Someone's in someone's pocket," Duo said. "If you are in someone's pocket, you do everything that they want you to do. Dekim's got everyone in his pocket, including the governor and the Duke. Whatcha need is a pickpocket."

"Clever and correct." Zechs smiled fractionally. "I do not wish to bring disgrace to Khushrenada's door, but to run this as a secret mission and prevent him from doing that which is as mistaken as the Duke."

"So you and Quatre came up with some plan using us instead of your military buds to do…what?" Duo asked.

That startled Zechs' eyebrows up into his bangs. _Good, keep him on his toes._ Heero bumped Duo lightly with his elbow and signaled "good job' with a quirky half-smile.

"The future will progress whether you are a participator or not. It doesn't have to stop you. Not if you align yourself with a rich entrepreneur," Zechs said. This time he picked up a glass paper weight and rolled it around in his hand before looking askance at Winner. It would make a formidable weapon. Heero wondered what the two were up to and was getting tired of the game. So was Chang, it seemed.

Wufei snorted. "Oh, like we've got _those_ at our beck and call. I, for one, am not rolling in the dough."

"Like Quatre, he means," Trowa said.

"And do what?" Duo insisted.

Hilde punched his shoulder. "Think! He means Quatre should start building steamboats."

"Whoa! Where did that come from?" Duo said, waking up. "You're linking ideas faster than a sausage machine."

"Dear Lord," Wufei groaned.

"That's Lord _Maxwell_, to you." Duo grinned widely.

"Can we get back to our topic?" Zechs asked.

"And dat was…?"

"Quatre building a steam boat."

"Can he DO that?"

"Of course I can't, Duo." Quatre sighed and started again. "Not yet, anyway. But, even if I had a factory and designs and handy employees, it would take time."

"What if steamboats come here from somewhere else before we build ours?" Heero asked.

"Then we'll build a bridge too low for the steamboats to go under." Quatre smiled.

Back to bridge building. Heero wasn't convinced Zechs' family hadn't had a hand in the "Catalonia" bridge destruction of the past. Heero met Zechs' eyes, which. Zechs, Heero was pretty sure, would not be excited about building another bridge. As it turned out, he was right.

"If we prevent the passage of steamboats, that would blockade all boats and effectively cut us off from all potential river trade, Quatre," Zechs said in an icy tone that had the same effect a slap would have.

"Only from the north, if the bridge goes there," Quatre answered. "And a steam boat would be heavier than a regular boat, right? So it would have to sit lower in the water, which means they would have to keep to the deeper waterway. That means we just have to build part of a bridge through the deepest part to discourage steamboat traffic."

"We don't have that kind of time. If Barton's thinking bigger, so do we. We have to be the first." Zechs turned his attention to the door.

"We got all day to think of a plan, and believe me the way I'm thinking it's going to take all day!" Duo said [A/N: thank you Groucho Marx for that line.

The office door opened and Noin popped her head in. "You are neglecting your other guests, Zechs."

"I'll be there in ten minutes. You can cover for me, buy me that much more time, can't you?"

"Of course! I said you were giving a tour, but still—"

"Ten minutes."

Noin dipped her chin in what was almost a salute then closed the door on her way out.

"We must be first. We must be daring and be the first to build the steam-powered boats," Zech said.

"Oh,_dat's _all dere is to it." Trowa's natural drawling manner softened the sarcasm a little.

"Since we don't know how to build a steam engine, we'll have to get hold of the instructions. I think Winner and Merquise have already come up with a plan," Heero said, "or we wouldn't be here, some of you with fake titles. We're wasting time with bridge-building arguments. So what is your plan?"

Quatre shot him a worried (guilty even?) look and shook his head. "Not every detail is set, but yes, we did come up with a plan to steal the designs, if it came to that. I was really hoping the bridge would be enough, but it's obvious now that it might only be a part of the solution."

"Okay, I'll make this easy on ya. I'll do it. Born a pickpocket, always a pickpocket."

"Duo, shut up."

"You can dress 'em up, add a dollop of class with a title on top, but under it all is a—"

"I said 'shut up,' idiot." Heero nudged him. Then he chuckled at Duo's put-out expression.

"I was just saying, if ya gotta pull off a heist, use the one with the sticky fingers--,"

"We'll take that into account," Zechs said in a louder voice, to take control of the conversation.

"Yes. Since Treize Khushrenada has the designs, it's his place we must get into. Wufei should have no problem." Quatre smiled his way.

"Me-e--?" Wufei choked after the sudden intake of air. He coughed a couple times before continuing. "I can't just… waltz into his home!"

"But he'd welcome you if you did show up."

"What? No, that's just not--!"

Hilde brushed Wufei's arm with a finger. "You know the governor, too? My, you do move in high circles."

Her smile and lingering finger nearly sidetracked his train of thought. He simply sputtered from angry outburst to proud admission. Heero's appreciation for Hilde's many talents rose several notches based on that talent alone.

"Yes, as a…ah…fencing partner. I am no thief in the night."

"Of course you aren't."

The way Hilde massaged Chang's ego made Heero smile. The master manipulator met his match in her. Wufei puffed up in front of his eyes like a cock in the henhouse and challenged the head cock.

"What makes you think they'll be off their guard around me? I walk in, look around, and then ask them if I might get a look at the steam engine plans?"

"Not like that, no. Duo should do that part and not until Duo gets to know the man better." Quatre's smile sweetened measurably.

"What do you mean?"

Duo, Heero thought, deserved praise for voicing his suspicions. Zechs appeared too accomplished, Quatre too naïve-looking, and both too rehearsed for his comfort. They already had set something in motion. Lord Maxwell. Lady Schbeiker. Miss Claire. _What was Winner's angle_?

"Well, he'll probably invite you out for a drink," Quatre explained. _Here it comes at last_, Heero thought. "After you donate some money to his campaign. Political figures are always eager for money."

"Donate?" Duo was reduced to single-syllable retorts.

"He means," Zechs said, "Not only are you to put yourself in harm's way, you're to pay for the privilege. How clever of you to think this up, Winner."

Quatre shrugged. "How else will you have an excuse to hang around, Duo? If you donate money, then Trieze'll be happy to see you and will, I'd lay my wages on it, invite you for a party up at his estate. Then you'll be able to have a look around."

"You'd better do more than bet wages!" Duo yelled. "I got no money and I'm facking straight!"

"As opposed to _fucking_ straight," Trowa muttered quietly.

"It's the _truth!_" Duo's voice rose to explain his point, translating his slang.

"I'm aware of your financial situation, Duo, and your honesty as well as your sexual orientation is no secret, among friends." _There's that little apologetic smile_, Heero noticed. "I'll take care of your wardrobe. We probably wear the same size." Winner consoled him. "I'll bankroll the Lord Maxwell personna, okay?"

"Oh, yeah? 'Kay… That includes fancy-ass clothes, 'cause what I'm wearing's my best, ya know."

"God, yes." Zechs sighed loudly. "If you don't I will."

"Hey!"

Heero whispered into Duo's ear. "The clothes only make men like Khushrenada. You look fine without any clothes at all."

"Eh? Oh, yeah…" Duo's blood flushed all the way up his neck to his cheeks. "Ah, so… ah… There's still _el problemo_, the 'IF he invites me to dinner.' That's one hell of a big IF."

"Of course he will."

"I'm that irresistible?"

"No, well, possibly, but you're a source of financial gain for them and of ego gratification for…"

Hilde cleared her throat. "He could accompany Wufei."

"Leave me out of this, woman! If Duo wants to fall in with their plan then fine, but that's not reason for me to—"

Hilde cleared her throat. "When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy."

"Which is why I'm not—"

"But you've got the chutzpah to pull it off."

At Wufei's blank look Quatre tried to clarify. "You have the audacity and self-confidence this act will require."

"Well, Duo's got it in spades."

"And it will take us all, working together—"

"De full deck. Spades, Hearts, Shamrocks, and Diamonds."

"Oh how clever!" Hilde giggled. "Duo has the spades, Trowclair the lucky clover, Quatre and Zechs share the diamonds, and you and Heero provide the heart!"

For that, all the men turned on her with chastising stares, not wanting to take verbal issue that seemed to say, "That was ridiculous."

"Well, what do you want? It was a joke! Listen, you were all getting hot under the collar. Y'all have your tea-making kits and just about any tincture or powder you might need for your headaches or indigestion. Except for crabbiness—you haven't got one for that." Hilde sniffed, as if she had said this aloud and hoped the others would take it to heart.

After a moment, Duo broke the tense silence. "So, which one of you's paying for the bridge and which for the steam boats?"

Zechs smiled and shrugged his shoulders eloquently. "I don't know."

Trowa pulled a coin from his pocket. "Heads is de steam boats; tails de bridge. Call it."

"Heads."

The coin glittered in its upward spiral and flashed candlelight on its way down. Trowa trapped it and when he uncovered the coin, announced "tails."

"Damn," Zechs grumbled. "Lucrezia will hate me for this."

"Not if you give her the satisfaction of blowing it up when this is all over," Duo said.

Zechs eyes widened, giving away his shock that Duo should know about her possible tie to bridge defilement. When his eyes cast about for anyone noticing, they locked with Heero's an instant then looked away. _How satisfying to know that Colonel Zechs Merquise was holding all the cards! _On the way out of the room, Heero asked Trowa to see the coin. It had two sides, both identical and both tails.

"What if he'd called tails?" Heero asked.

"Den I do a bit o'slight of hand and use dis one." Trowa displayed a two-headed version of the other. "Whichever, non?"

So, Barton was not above cheating for Winner. _Could that be love_, he wondered?

**(o) Warning: Lemon alert from here on out.**

The others had been dropped off at their homes and Hilde had excused herself to her room, leaving Quatre alone with Trowa.

"Time to put Miss Claire away," Trowa said in his quiet tone.

Quatre followed him to the bathroom across the hall from Quatre's private rooms. He leaned in the doorway. "Mind if I watch?" Quatre asked.

"Non."

Trowa set his cane aside and stood with his sore leg propped on a stool, still covered by the long flowing skirt. He removed and carefully adjusted the dark wig on its stand. He swabbed at a tub of white cream and cleaned the makeup off his face. He worked through a stack of cotton washing cloths before his suntanned face reappeared.

"Messy. I'm so sorry you have to go through all this."

Trowa shrugged. "Clown makeup is worse."

Quatre smiled and led the way across the hall to Trowa's room. Thinking he should give Trowa some privacy, but unable to leave him, Quatre stepped to the window and peered out into the night. He could hear Trowa unbutton the woman's fitted jacket and blouse, remove both, the silk rustling, and hang them over the back of a chair.

"I could use a hand."

Trowa was seated in the chair skirts pulled up around his waist. At some point he must have pulled out one of his undershirts, because now he wore a clean-but-tattered-at-the-cuffs white linen shirt on top, and his loose underwear below. He unfastened the skirt and numerous slips and with Quatre's assistance pulled them over his head. Quatre stowed them in a corner.

This left Quatre alone with a half-dressed Trowa in the small, smart room attached to Quatre's private quarters. The air was warm, so his lightly dressed state didn't seem to bother Trowa; in fact, his highest priority appeared to be a smoke. He held out a cigarette to light-- to God, if no one else came through-- so Quatre took the glass chimney off a lit lamp and used that to ignite it.

Trowa sat back and blew a thin veil of smoke. Quatre watched the aluring lips pull into a contented smile. To get his highly imaginative mind off the handsome young man stretched out in front on him, he began to talk.

"Khushrenada is doing his rounds of the country and coming over in a couple days," Quatre said. "Heero may have to work the river alone for a few days, because I want both Wufei and Duo here to meet the governor. I'll ask Miss Hilde to accompany Heero while he moves his freight. That should be interesting."

"Hmmm. You've been dinking a lot. You believe you can cover de costs? Building engines, boats, bridges—dat's expensive."

"Which is why we needed Zechs Merquise, as you know. Thank you for seeing to that little detail for me."

"I dink you can charm me into doing most anyting."

_And you, me._ "Oh, I'm sure you have limits, although, I might test them." Quatre realized he meant that personally as well, and turned away before Trowa could see his burning cheeks. The chair creaked and he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Quatre,_ mon ami_, you surprise me. You're shifty. Devious."

"I've always been devious."

"To be successful in de world of big business, I suppose, you must be, but I meant how you use your friends."

"I don't _use_—"

"I should steal de plans. It should be me taking de risks, not Duo. You _know_ dat."

"Duo is the right one to do this. You may not be healed sufficiently in time. Wufei can distract Treize. Heero can back him up; kill if necessary to protect him."

"Dat's important?"

"I-I couldn't do that…kill… to protect you, I don't think." Quatre looked a little ashamed then confessed, "The nearest I have ever come to dying was death-by-ennui over a cup of tea with my sisters."

Trowa smiled. "If I were going to commit a crime, you're about de last person I'd ask to be my accomplice."

Quatre's pale, blond eyebrows arched over his innocent, startled blue eyes as he reared back slightly. If that was an insult— and it did seem to have been intended as such— it had to be one of the strangest insults Quatre had ever heard. Feeling mulish and put-upon, he said, "Oh, well, that makes it all right, then."

Trowa stood and moved on him immediately, closing in on his personal space with shuffling steps. "Listen, I didn't mean it in a bad way."

"Oh, I didn't take it in a bad way, however, how was I supposed to take it?"

"I, ah, just meant dat you are too familiar a face, too honest and upstanding—"

"Oh spare me the sap, Trowa. You make me out to be some kind of a pansy-ass rich boy afraid to get his hands dirty and too disinterested to get involved."

"Well, aren'tcha?"

"No!" Quatre said, coldly and obsequiously then his face changed, softening with his next words. "And yes. In a way. You see, I sometimes feel, too much. Empathy, you know."

"Oh, I'll bet. Having perception like that must hurt like hell. Like cutting your teeth on glass."

"Um, hmmm. You put it so well. But it's better than sleepwalking through life; at least, I think so. Still--," he paused to draw a breath and let it out slowly. "I'm also really lonely, and I'd like some excitement to come into my life. Starting with you."

Quatre knew from past experience that he should not plunge headlong into a love affair. He should stand back, take the longer view, measure the lay of the land, judge whether the footing was really safe, court his target, at least for a while, on other terms. But he could think of no other terms; he couldn't imagine their carefully stepping around one another, assessing the risks. When he finally awoke from their embrace, he had decided it wasn't to go to bed alone.

"Trowa—"

"Qui?"

"I don't want to be alone any more, and certainly not tonight."

"But am I what you need?"

"You're a man. That's good for starters." Quatre smiled and let his heart open. "A good man, deep down."

"Well, dat's good to know." He stamped out his cigarette.

"I know you'd be good for me…to me."

"Oh, dat's a lot of pressure to put on me, don't you dink?"

"Is it? Really? I know you can kiss. I feel it all the way to my toes when you kiss me."

"Toes? Oh, dat's profound…close to, say, bottomless?"

"Kiss me hard."

Trowa did. A wave of relief washed over him, Trowa's. At last he broke through Trowa's reticence. And then he knew they'd made progress when he felt a hand move from around his waist to tug at his shirt and slip under to caress his skin.

"Dis wat you had in mind?"

"_My_ mind? Oh, my mind moved past this _hours _ago and right on to the hot and sweaty part."

Trowa growled and pressed closer, loosening buttons from waist to neck. He pealed both the shirt and vest off Quatre in a single, desperate yank. The clean, clear white skin revealed beneath erupted with goose bumps.

"Ummm, oh… bedroom… next door," Quatre said. His breath came uneven as he shivered, but the air was warm. "Oh, God."

The air tingled, crackling with excitement. Trowa dropped his shirt and cane to the floor next to the pastel clothes. _What a beautiful musculature, _Quatre thought_! The trim waist…_ He wrenched his eyes off the tantalizing torso with great difficulty. This was a body sculpted by hard work and weather worn. The boys, or men, willing to sleep with Quatre in the past had never lifted a weight heavier than a chair to sit upon. _Breathe!_

Quatre waved to an adjoining door then caught Trowa, supporting most of his weight off the lame leg. "This way. Got you!"

Still wrapped around the other young man, Quatre lumbered and stumbled in the direction of his room. Chest slapped chest, sweat slicked, burning with urgency. He flicked the door latch and they crashed through. He kicked it, and the door slammed shut as Quatre fell backwards onto the bed, pulling Trowa along with him. Rock hard muscles pressed into his chest and rope-roughened hands kneaded his shoulders. But it was the raspy, sex-charged voice that left Quatre undone.

"Dis okay? Not too heavy, am I?"

"N-no. I mean, yes! Oh, Trowa!"

Trowa smashed his mouth onto Quatre's, silencing his cries. It was slow at first but the passion was there and things began to pick up. Quatre leaned into him more, sliding his tongue into his mouth and moaning as Trowa duplicated his effort. Quatre's raked through the straight, brown hair and down his back, while the other free hand slid down the lean sides to Trowa's waist. They lay kissing and holding each other in their underwear. Once again, Quatre had to initiate the next step. His hands crept to Trowa's waistband and pushed and wiggled the shorts down. One look at that bare ass and Quatre moaned.

"God, take me!"

Trowa remained on top of the slightly shorter young man and resumed kissing. His hands inched from Quatre's ivory neck down Quatre's back until Quatre, in spite the weight on top of him nearly went mad with waiting and struggled out of his underwear. Quatre could tell Trowa was nervous from the tentative touches. And even though those rough hands, moving slow and gentle, sent tingles through him with every caress, Quatre wanted release and fast. Trowa, however, wasn't even erect. This posed a challenge, and Quatre loved a challenge.

He moved a leg up under him and flipped them over. Once on top, Quatre attacked that enticing chest. Licking and kissing the muscles rippling just beneath the browned skin. Trowa's reactions were dynamic, for so quiet a man, his lurching and squirming. He sucked in a breath-load of air as Quatre attached his lips limpet-style to one of his brown nipples. As his tongue rubbed the small nub, Quatre could feel Trowa's cock grow and turn rock hard. _Finally!_ He latched onto the other and sucked until Trowa groaned and bucked under him. _That's more like it!_

Quatre chuckled and ran a line with his wet tongue down to Trowa's waist, and stopped. He looked up and waited until Trowa met his gaze. He flashed a quick smile then went down, devouring the head of Trowa's cock with his lips.

"Ah!" Trowa closed his eyes and gasped with pleasure.

It was kind of awkward but they both figured out a rhythm. Quatre bobbed his head up and down while Trowa slowly moved his hips foreword. Quatre settled one hand on his hips, making sure Trowa wouldn't jump harder and choke him. Determined to tantalize him some more, Quatre cautiously licked around the slit and crown, and elicited short gasps. When he took the shaft in his hand and squeezed and pulled, Trowa gripped the sheets at his sides, twisted them, nearly tearing them apart, and cried out.

Slowly and deliberately, Quatre continued his love-making. He took the bell-shaped top into his mouth, slid it past moist lips, and welcomed it into the warmth and wetness of his mouth. Quatre opened his eyes and watched the dark curly pubes go in and out of focus. Each time he was as far down as he could go, the musky smell of his crotch intensified and that in itself was sufficient reason to keep going. Trowa moaned low and moved his cock deeper inside. That was Quatre's cue to end his suffering. The thick shaft sliding over Quatre's tongue excited him so thoroughly, did didn't let up when Trowa thrashed about. He sucked harder and felt Trowa's balls tighten.

"Ugh!" Trowa grunted as he released.

Quatre sucked and swallowed and licked until he heard Trowa sigh. He allowed the limp cock to slip free and drop to his lover's groin. Feeling it was his turn, he sat up, straddling Trowa's hips, his own cock alert and perky.

"How do you want me?"

Trowa's face blanched. Quatre didn't understand, but a wash of fear flooded his senses. "Trowa? What's wrong? What did I do wrong?"

Strong fingers grasped his shoulders and wrestled him to the bed. They lay side by side, panting, aroused, but mutually confused. He let Trowa gather his thoughts and speak first.

"Not a t'ing, mon petite." Trowa sighed, released his grip, and raked his fingers through his long bangs, brushing them to the side. "I just… it's just—"

"I'm not appealing?"

Trowa chuckled softly and rubbed his erection against Quatre's leg. "Oh, you are most appealing. Quatre. To tell de trud, I've never…been wid a man befo."

"Oh…" Quatre brightened. "Oh, really? Is that all?"

"Isn't dat enough?"

"Well, have you had any sex? You kiss wonderfully!"

Trowa blushed to his roots. "Yeah."

"Well, let's not talk about that now. Let's have fun!"

"Okay. Good idea. Let me try w'at you did."

Quatre, bubbling with excitement, stretched out, spread-eagled on the bed. "Ready!"

Trowa went down on him with the enthusiasm of a rookie and was all too soon confronted with his lack of experience. He gagged and pulled off, coughing.

"Sorry 'bout dat."

"Don't rush yourself, just keep doing what you were doing. It felt great."

Trowa nodded and tried again. This time, he spent more time on just the head and put his tongue to work.

"Grab it."

Trowa wrapped an obedient hand around Quatre's shaft, jerking him off with his mouth at the top. He added suction and was rewarded with low moans. Getting the hang of it, Trowa unleashed his passion and worked his dick with more vigor. After a few minutes of sucking and pulling, Quatre knew he was close, but Trowa was going down on him again. This time more cautiously. He sucked the length further inside until Quatre felt his dick pressing against the back of his throat. He pulled back slightly and Trowa bobbed up then down again. It didn't take them long to get a rhythm going this time. Trowa fondled his plump scrotum and pushed harder, trying to get him past his gag reflex. There were a few more near misses, but Trowa succeeded in swallowing him deeper inside. Quatre gasped sharply as Trowa held him down his throat, swallowing some more and working his cock with his throat muscles. Where a novice like him had ever gotten that idea, Quatre didn't know. He'd never felt anything like it! _An entirely a new twist!_ He held Trowa's head in place with both hands.

Trowa needed a breather, though, and backed off, exposing Quatre's blood-filled cock to the air; slick with spit, it pulsed. Trowa looked at it with a renewed interest. Now that he knew it so intimately, he couldn't help but see it in a different light than before. He had tasted him, felt him slide inside, felt his warmth and throbbing flesh. The width and length and the slight upward curve had become familiar to him. He firmly wrapped a hand around the needy-looking shaft, and moved it up and down out.

Quatre panted and watched in amazement, it felt like he'd had been doing this forever. _What pleasure!_ His eyes glazed over and closed, his mouth with the moist, kiss-bruised lips opened, his nostrils twitched. His cock throbbed in his lover's hand and with a sharp intake of breath he clenched his teeth. _So close…NOW!_ His jaw relaxed and with a telltale jerk of his head, his muscles tensed and his seed shot out. The last few spurts ended up on Trowa's hand.

Trowa dropped on his back beside him and with a lazy smile he beckoned Quatre to join him. Quatre rolled over halfway onto Trowa, who was gazing at his wet palm and the cum on it. It glistened and rolled slowly over his skin. Quatre casually brought his hand to his mouth and licked some off. Trowa watched, intent on the pink active tongue.

"'That's so hot," he said and moved in for a kiss. His tongue played with Quatre's, dabbing in his cum.

Quatre smiled, and then hugged him again. "Since I've met you, I wanted to do this."

Trowa kissed him. "I woulda been too shy any sooner dan dis."

"You know now you don't have to be with me. There's going to be love between us and I'll tell you now, when we're here, this is a safe zone from the outside world where we can't do it."

"Safe. Okay."

* * *

End Chapter 14 


	15. Chapter 15

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Fifteen**

Duo, Heero, Duo, Heero, and a slapdash of Quatre to end it (POV)

A/N: I am sorry for the delay and so I give you an extra long chapter. Take your time. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, thank Snowdragonct for her wonderful and expert advice. If you don't, complain to me!

* * *

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Duo asked. 

There was a touch of both incredulousness and teasing in his voice. Laid out on the table was the product of Quatre's cook's hard work, some of which, he knew, had been living and catching its own meal only a few hours earlier.

"You're supposed to take a bite and tell me you like it," Quatre answered with a sweet smile.

Duo had no doubt that the smile had more to do with the developing relationship between his friend, the lord of the manor, and the Cajun trader, a gambler at large. The lingering glances and touches they shared were a dead giveaway. Duo couldn't help but feel sad for them, though, knowing that only within the walls of his house were they safe to share their affection openly. Outside, the Cajun had to masquerade as Miss Claire to avoid recognition by Barton's gang. And, although this afforded the couple the option to hold hands, Quatre didn't want to draw attention their way. If Claire were too conspicuous, there would be expectations for her to attend parties and meet with other ladies of the gentry in town. Trowa recommended he keep a low profile, something with which he had a lifetime of practice.

Duo watched Quatre's sweet smile grow as he demonstrated the use of the delicate-looking fork in his hand. With skill polished from years of training and habit, Quatre twisted and scooped out a bite of cheese covered crab claw. He lifted it to Trowa's mouth, who promptly opened up for him and smiled as he was fed the bite and chewed.

"I can't believe you haven't eaten crab before, Duo," he said, shaking his head. "It's one of the greatest delicacies in the world."

"I've eaten it once and it was with my hands, not a fucking fork and knife."

"The point is to watch and learn. Imitate what I do. By the time Khushrenada meets you, you will be Lord Maxwell in manners as well as in name."

Duo jabbed and one joint skidded off his plate and across the table.

"Don't mind if do," Trowa said, and gamely added the crab piece to his own, uneaten pile.

"Ahhh, shit!" Duo moaned. "I'll never get the gist of all this."

"Yes, you will. Watch again. You want to impress Wufei and Heero with your technique when they get back, don't you?"

"Yeah," but Duo was thinking of Heero only-- and other displays of physical dexterity.

Duo did better with his next claw and he mastered snails in no time at all. Artichokes puzzled him, but stripping leaves and dipping them in drawn butter wasn't the agility test the crab legs had been. When the dinner lesson was over, they progressed to the next test. Quatre called in his head of staff.

"Riven," he said to his butler. "Lord Maxwell hasn't much experience with servants. He needs practice learning their roles and boning up on his manners in general. Any ideas where to start?"

"Dinner was a wise point to begin, Sir. I have found Lord Maxwell's manners quite refreshing in general, but I could speak with him in private concerning a quirk or two, if you would like?"

"Yes, that would be helpful."

Duo couldn't wait until his arm was healed sufficiently for him to join Heero. Working the river, load and unloading freight, even fighting pirates—it all gained significance since he'd been disabled. Now he waxed nostalgic, and dreamed of how he would welcome Heero back the next evening.

(o)

When Duo first suggested making dinner, Heero had balked at the idea.

"I'll make dinner," he had said, but Duo wasn't having it.

"It'll be more romantic if _I_ cook for _you_," he had said. "I've just been prancing and dancing around all day playing Lord Maxwell. You've been working hard. Now relax."

Breakfast for dinner isn't exactly an original idea. Breakfast in bed for dinner, however, was something Heero had never done, and it was oddly intriguing to him. Grits, something Trowa had introduced them both to, with bacon and eggs wouldn't have been his first choice for a meal, but Heero knew how hard his lover worked to cook it for him.

If the look on his face were a book, it would have told a story about a man who had an amorous plan. Heero was not so oblivious that he missed all Duo's hundreds of cues. He could tell how important it was to Duo that he carry out his plan, and he suspected that Duo's contentment this evening depended upon his ability to make him happy. As dramatic as it sounded to Heero, he read all of that when he looked into Duo's violet-blue, expressive eyes. His expression of longing mixed with anticipation was both hopeful and irresistible. He must have been taking begging lessons from Ruggles!

_Who was I to tell him no,_ Heero wondered? "Okay. Lead on." He smiled politely and let Duo romance him.

Duo escorted him to their room and told him to stay put while he worked everything out. Duo fluffed the pillows and smoothed out the bedspread. He delivered their meal on a wide tray, which Heero recognized had originated from Quatre's kitchen.

Heero tasted each item and pronounced them as, "Good."

Duo smiled with satisfaction and ate his own meal with care. Not his usual wolfing down and wiping the plate clean with a hunk of bread, Heero noticed. He didn't want to ruin the moment and embarrass Duo with a thoughtless remark, so he said, "You've been working hard, too."

It must have been the right thing to say, because Duo's eyes glittered and he nodded. When we were finished eating, Duo gathered up the dishes and was about to take them back down to the kitchen, but Heero stopped him.

"Just leave it where it is," he said. "Let's cuddle instead."

"Cuddle" was not Heero's usual choice of words either, but, once again, he had happened upon the right expression. Duo was at his side in an instant. Heero enclosed his warm, pliant body in his arms and heard him sigh before their lips met.

They lost themselves in a long, sensual kiss, letting their hands explore each other's bodies. That was when it dawned on Heero that there was no uncharted territory for him to discover. His lips, his tongue, his hands. They'd all made intimate contact with every inch of Duo's being, and somehow, it was always perfect.

Heero wondered if this was put the coda on their story. Nothing new meant boredom, didn't it? Wouldn't they now lose interest in one another?

For some reason, though, it was different with Heero. As he did his circuit of Duo, revisiting all of those places, the spots he already knew, was like going home again. It was a comfortable place for him to be, and he was anxious to be there as much as he could.

Very slowly, they each shed their clothes. As each article of clothing slipped from their bodies to the bed, then to the floor, their collective energies seemed to merge. Heero knew it wouldn't be long before they were one with each other. He wanted it. He tested Duo's willingness with his moans and suggestive moves. When Duo wrapped his legs around Heero's waist, clenched hard, and squeezed their groins together, Heero guessed Duo wanted more intimacy, too. Neither of them had to say a word.

Heero lightly kissed Duo's face and mouth then brushed his lips and tongue down his neck. He lingered and suckled until Duo squirmed.

"Mo-ore," Duo begged.

Heero left his neck to pay special attention to each one of his hard nipples. His long tongue swirled slowly around each perimeter, and then he methodically consumed each one by sucking and using his tongue in the most pleasurable way he could imagine.

As he attentively serviced Duo's sensitive nipples, he basked in the pleasure of Duo's scalp massage. He ran his fingers through Heero's thick head of hair and quietly moaned his delight. Heero finally abandoned his chest and slid to his protruding naval. When he raked his tongue across that erogenous zone, he elicited another strong moan from his willing lover and felt Duo's legs part further.

"God… More…"

Heero complied. The legs loosened their grip and Heero bent over Duo's manhood, while looking up at him eyes half-lidded. Duo returned a look of desire, which Heero couldn't resist. He waited no longer and swallowed the weeping erection in a single move. Duo thrashed around and bit his fist until he could hold out no longer and spent himself.

From where he was, Heero figured that he could have easily entered Duo and he wouldn't have protested. Indeed, he seemed to need to be loved that night. Heero wasn't certain, though, that Duo would have been able to adjust to his invasion if he rushed things. Heero wanted Duo to thoroughly enjoy the love he had saved for him.

"God, Heero!"

Heero nodded and sucked on the fingers of his right hand. He used the lingering come in his mouth to wet them, preparing Duo for a larger intrusion. As each digit entered, Duo would tense up and give him a look of anticipation before settling back down. Heero stretched and stimulated him, one finger turned into two. Two fingers became three, and three fingers carried with them the promise for him of a satisfying night in bed.

In the past, Duo had teased his entrance with lubricated fingers, hinting at more, but going no further. Heero didn't want him to have to always take the lead, but he had to let him, until now. As Duo had described anal sex, it sounded painful and naughty, but Duo assured him that with the right person it was all right. That hadn't contradicted Heero's feelings, though. He did a little investigative research on his last trip to Tumult with Wufei, barely avoided a tight situation, but had come away with a few tips. It was his turn to show his lover a thing or two.

Heero left nothing to chance with Duo that night. He carefully lubricated his love with thick oil, eliciting deep, guttural groans of approval from him. Heero oiled his own arousal then paused to meet Duo's eyes. There was his reassuring smile, his silent invitation to take his most precious treasure. Trust. He was ready.

"Oh, yeah, 'Ro."

His love was tight around Heero's manhood. While he was adapting to their union, Heero shared a long kiss, setting the tempo for their passionate embrace. The heat of Duo's love was powerful; it was so intense that as Heero rested within him he could feel his pulse throbbing against the walls of his tightness.

When Heero finally started to move, Duo's eyes rolled back in his head. Heero readjusted his legs and held on for dear life. His thoughts centered on pleasing him, but also selfishly indulged in the sweet center of his own passion. He aimed for Duo's pleasure hold and when he hit it, Duo screamed.

Heero paused, searching his lover's face for some sign. "Did I hurt you?"

Duo moaned and smiled. "No. You… no."

Heero couldn't look at that expression of bliss, feel the pulsing heat, and maintain his composure. He frantically tried to hang on as nature took over.

"Ahhh!"

"Duo…"

His own manhood screamed for release. So when Duo reached his second climax, the sight of his overflowing manhood combined with the contractions deep inside of him pushed Heero over the edge of his considerable control. Heero gave in to the pleasures of the moment and spent himself buried deep inside of his lover. When he pulled out, he shoved a towel under Duo's backside, wrapped him in his arms and covers.

"Love you."

"God, yes. Love you, too, Ro."

And, satisfied, Heero drifted off into a deep slumber.

Only to be re-awakened after a few minutes by Duo's hand smoothing his hair and his wide eyes studying his face. "Hmm?"

"Been taking lessons?"

Heero rolled the words around his head. There wasn't a shred of humor in Duo's question, but a hell of a lot of insecurity. They'd been sleeping apart when work took Heero away, and then when he returned suddenly he was sexually enlightened. Of course Duo would suspect him of infidelity! That he had to put a stop to that implication immediately! Heero shut his eyes and sighed.

"I should have told you ahead of time what I'd done," Heero confessed.

His eyes opened, but Duo looked away, let down. "Oh."

"It's not what you might think, Duo. I didn't…do anything. I wouldn't with anyone but you. Believe me."

Duo murmured, "I want to."

"I paid two prostitutes to… demonstrate."

"Huh?" Duo's narrow-eyed look was better than his hopeless one. Heero's hopes grew. "Lemme get this straight. You found male whores and paid them to fuck while you watched?"

Heero nodded.

Duo chuckled and then Heero knew everything would be okay. "Chang in on this, too?"

"No!" Heero didn't hide his shock. "He was asleep. He had no idea what I was doing, or that I was out at all."

Duo enveloped Heero in his arms. "That was a dangerous thing to do. Two of them, one of you, a pimp coulda added a third against you."

Heero started. "You were _there_?"

Duo rose up on an elbow. "No, but I'm aware, Heero. What happened!"

"Nothing, baby," Heero cooed. He'd never used that tone of voice before, never felt the need to reassure and protect anyone before. He'd never been in love or loved like this before. "I learned what I needed and got out intact. I just wanted to do something, to show you, to love you better."

With Duo buried in his arms, Heero felt as if he'd been transformed from a baser animal to something fine and worthy. He'd attained manhood at last. Sublimity achieved.

"You loved me good, 'Ro. Just fine."

"Only you."

"Yeah, only me." He laughed softly in Heero's ear. "Now who's the idiot?"

(0)

When the workmen first came, the days were suddenly noisy and lumber rose in piles outside the front porch. Weeks of building had converted the neat, orderly piles into new ones of refuse. But today, when Wufei met Duo and Heero at their house, he pointed out that it was cleaned up.

"The place is taking shape?"

"It is. We'll give you the grand tour another time," Heero said, determined to get the meeting with Khushrenada over with.

"You think Quatre can afford all this and build boats, too?" Duo asked.

"That chest of gold bullion wasn't enough to convince you? Winner has enough money to keep Buddha knows how many plates in the air," Wufei replied. "Khushrenada can, too. Don't worry, though. Winner has support from L4 even Treize cannot fathom."

Heero parted from the other pair just within the gates to the Winner estate. It had been agreed upon that he and Trowa, Miss Claire, and Miss Hilde were best kept out of this meeting. They would remain near at hand, just in case. Heero took the path to the rear entrance, while Wufei and Duo continued on to the front.

Duo hesitated, uncertainly gripping his heart at the last second. Could he perform well enough to fool the governor? He was just L2 street scum, after all. He caught Wufei's sidelong glance. "I look okay?"

"Lord Maxwell, you wear your title well. I'll knock."

Rashid was handling door duty, and bowed to let them pass. Duo walked through the open front door with an authoritative stride.

"You know how to make an entrance," Wufei said as an aside.

"And I know when to make an exit." Duo flashed him a smile and winked. "Just wait and see."

"Let's get this over with then," Wufei said and moved quickly through the foyer to where Quatre and Treize Khushrenada awaited them.

Governor Khushrenada did not so much occupy the room as grace it. In that way he reminded Duo of Zechs Merquise with that old world money, charm, and elegance. Wearing a beautifully tailored charcoal suit, he was handsome, cool and calm—a presence he no doubt had mastered to control his forces and voting public. Duo thought he must fill his female contingents with both hope and despair, that he was at once so accessible and yet forever inaccessible. Men, too, but they'd most likely experience hostility, both because they hated him and couldn't be like him.

"Hi," Duo greeted him. He smiled his world-beater of a smile and stuck out a hand.

Treize shook his hand with a firm shake. "Lord Maxwell. My pleasure."

Quatre moved between them all, expertly directing the conversation, making certain his objectives were met, and ensuring the scam was a success. Seeing his friend in this professional light, impressed Duo. Generally, Quatre appeared soft, kindly, and sweet-natured, but he had a firm hand, a razor-sharp mind, and something else that Duo felt rather than observed, but he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. Wufei, Quatre and Treize took the conversation to another level and there it hung, out of Duo's reach.

Unable to join in the lofty discussion, Duo played spectator and studied the governor. Very handsome, he thought, but with eyes that hunted Wufei, chasing after the Chinese scholar as he circled the room. He reminded Duo of an eagle, talons hidden beneath his fine feathers, analyzing his prey's movements for some vulnerability. And then the sharp-eyed man rested his gaze on him.

"Truth posits provability, doesn't it?"

Treize had spoken and Duo just looked at him, feeling as thick as the planks making up the flooring in his new addition_. What was he talking about?_

"Of course it does," Treize continued. "Just as the incompleteness proof proves something unprovable."

"That's gotta be on the bleeding edge of--," Duo said.

"—Paradoxical, sir," Wufei supplied for him. It wasn't what Duo was going to say, but that was probably for the best.

Treize's face lit up. "You are absolutely right. Remember what's called the 'Liar's Paradox'?"

"Vaguely." That was Duo-speak for 'not at all.'

"Take the sentence 'I am a liar.' That sentence is true only if it's false. If you say you're lying, then you're not, from which it follows that you are, and so on and so on."

"So, are you, ah, sir?" Duo asked. At last the conversation was back in a territory he understood. He wasn't stupid, but Duo was not well educated enough to complete with the governor's higher realms.

"I am a politician. I don't always work with provable situations. Laws and rules aren't always binding."

"But aren't judgments based on laws?" Wufei asked.

"Yes, but the judges wield a certain amount of latitude."

"Does that make you a liar, then, governor?" Duo repeated.

"You are a persistent, Lord Maxwell, and impatient."

"I've got stick-to-itiveness; Chang's got the short fuse."

For a moment, Duo considered giving the self-righteous governor the finger, what Wufei called his "_digitus impudicus," _but then to his surprise, Quatre shimmied up to his side, invading his space, and whispered into his ear,"He likes boys."

Fingers, Quatre's, he hoped, slithered around his waist. His act made certain to advertise Duo's sexual orientation, something he wasn't thrilled to have promoted."Play nice, Duo," Quatre said aloud.

Duo had his snappy comeback on the tip of his tongue,when Treize's expression changed. The smug smile turned lascivious, and Duo felt fingers stroke his braid. Not Quatre's fingers this time.

"You know that 'small talk' can be about spirituality or politics, and 'important issues' can be about… hair."

Duo coughed. "Run that by me again?" He stepped backwards, dragging his tail behind him, and caught a glimpse of Wufei. His lips were pressed into a thin line and his face pale. How aware of Treize's nature was he? How? What was it Quatre had said? He likes boys? Had Wufei been one of his conquests after losing a sparring match? Duo's mind reeled with the possibilities, missing, again, most of what was being said.

"—and I can offer protection for you. Anonymity. You are a homosexual, which can be tricky business in these parts, haven't you found?"

Here was a subject best served cold-- like revenge. Duo froze in place.

"I'm very broadminded. Many men serve me from wide-ranging kingdoms and speaking multiple tongues. I have the ability to speak more than one language, which makes me 'bi'," but then Treize jokingly clarified, "'-lingual.'"

"Then you know how sex complicates things," Duo said, staring at Quatre while he said it.

"So?" Treize chuckled and straightened his shoulders. "I find it all amusing."

"Yeah, hysterical." Duo could be entertaining, though. He knew a few military jokes he was sure the governor hadn't heard. "I guess you're right. I mean, soldiers who aren't afraid of guns, capture, mutilation, torture or death say they are afraid of faggots. That means homosexuals shouldn't be used as soldiers; they should be used as weapons!"

Treize roared his approval. "There's a married guy somewhere who is terrified of a cheap slut like you, Lord Maxwell."

Duo's hands fisted; Wufei hissed. Quatre stepped in to explain. "Duo, you are aware that being called a 'cheap slut' isn't actually an insult? In this connotation?"

"All your friends do not have to 'get along,' Quatre." Duo barely opened his mouth. He could talk with his teeth bared.

"Duo here was thinking of offering you a sizeable donation," Quatre said. He turned toward Khushrenada, whose mouth had fallen open. "Why, Lord Maxwell, you've left someone totally speechless."

That didn't last for long. Quatre handled the exact amount, and since it was his money, Duo let him do the negotiations. Immediately Treize extended a hand to shake and an invitation to dinner. Wufei and Duo accepted, Duo both, and Quatre excused himself from the dinner with a breezy "business engagement" excuse.

With no chance to make more of the meeting, as well as a long ride home in the offing, the governor prepared to leave. "When throwing a party, Mr. Winner, you know how to put out quite a spread. Sometimes after the party, too."

Whether or not the insinuation was true, Quatre showed no emotion and answered, "Not any more."

"Then the rumors are true? You are marrying? I didn't believe what I'd heard. I considered you to be a confirmed…bachelor."

Quatre shrugged and added in simple terms, "Your roommate can be your roommate and not your 'roommate'."

"Ah, isn't that the truth. Well, Master Winner, I've had a profitable day. Until we meet again, gentlemen?" Treize smiled and left.

When Khushrenada's carriage had carried him safely away, Duo exploded. "You could have warned me!"

"Actually, I just received that important information from… an informant."

"Wufei!"

"Not I! I may have had some suspicions, but he never made a pass at me."

"He watched your every move," Duo said. "Every time you turned your back on him, I think he considered it an opportunity."

"Why you--!" Wufei was about to throttle his friend, when they were torn apart by Heero and Quatre.

Hilde slapped her boyfriend on the face and Quatre punched Duo in the jaw. Trowa did his best to block Quatre from Duo's left hook, taking a bruise to the gut for love. Heero soundly slammed each fighter to the ground, stopping only at Hilde.

"That's it!" Heero growled. "Treize is gone. You did what you set out to do. You have an invitation to his place. Remember what this is all about."

Hilde and Wufei were whispering together, making up, Duo supposed from the contrite looks on both their faces. Trowa sank into a chair and massaged his stomach. Heero, nostrils flaring, muscles flexing, glared at everyone, Quatre in particular. Duo watched as his lover symbolically rattled his protective shackles, ready to restrain the entire group if they didn't settle down.

Diplomat that he was, Quatre waved the white flag first. "Thank you, Heero. We lost sight of what we had accomplished and got caught up in the moment."

"You_used_ Duo. I'm not accustomed to _your_ kind of friendship," Heero said.

"I'm sorry," Quatre said. Duo thought Quatre sounded sincere, _was_ sincere. "In particular, I'm sorry, Duo, that I wasn't able to warn you sooner."

"Yeah, well you did warn me, but, damn, did ya have to out me, too?"

"It speeded things up. He needed a reason to accept the money and it was the best I could do."

"That was your best? Man, Quat, you're mind must be awfully crowded up there."

"It is. Why don't we all have a drink together and I'll explain about state of the art bridge building. Zechs spent all morning here going over—"

"Ah, ha!" Duo shouted. "Your informant was Zechs! Of course, they grew up together. I should have guessed. Why hadn't he told you that before?"

"I don't know," Quatre admitted, frowning. "I'll think about that. Anyway, for now, let's drink to friendship. Miss Hilde, I'm sorry you must go so soon. Promise me you'll come back for another visit very soon."

She rubbed a hand over Wufei's arm. "Thank you. I'd like that very much. I do have work to see to, but then, if I've got a ride, I'll come back."

"You have a ride," Heero and Wufei said at the same time.

And they were all back on board together again. The ship wasn't in immediate danger of sinking; the leaks had been patched. Friends, comrades, and lovers all. The ride, however, was a little shakier than it had been.

(o)

Two days later, Wufei and Heero returned Hilde to her home in Serendipity. They also loaded and unloaded freight, but at the end of the afternoon they had to leave. The days were shortening already at summer's end. They would make it back at dusk at best. They had to eat, though, so Heero chose one of a half dozen bars on the street Hilde insisted they visit. It was the least rough-looking one. No loud noises and shouts could be heard as they entered. The place was crowded. Smoke hung in the air like a dropped ceiling. Fighting seemed to be a cottage industry; mostly, men fought out of frustration and anger at their unemployed plight. But, there were no fights this afternoon.

"We'll never get served in time before I dry up and blow away," Hilde sighed. "We should just go back to my house and see if there's anything there."

"Nonsense," Wufei said with a snort. "I'll be back momentarily."

"I don't know why you insist on hitting the dives in the worst part of town." Heero stared at Hilde, asking, "Don't you want a more comfortable, safer life?"

"Of course. My mattress is stuffed with excess cash, practically overflowing. I just can't decide on a decorative style."

"You have money. You've told us so. Is it the poor-little-pirate-hunter life you lead that makes you so sarcastic?"

Hilde appeared to like that image; she laughed in a high trill. "May I ask why you wanna know?"

"You just have."

"Oooh, who's all sarcastic now?"

"Be serious."

She frowned. "Better?"

Heero looked away, perturbed by her. He missed Duo and that irritated him, too.

"You asking me if I'm hoping to make a safer, more stable life with your friend, Wufei? Is that what you're wondering, honey?" She didn't wait for him to answer, which he wouldn't anyway. "He hasn't asked, but if he does, I'd be a damn fool not to." She took up both of Heero's hands in hers. It drew his eyes to hers. "I kin tell you know what it's like to be in love. I see it blossoming between you and your man, so you know something of what I'm feeling. I know we hardly know one another, and have so little in common, but I believe I can make Wufei Chang happy. I know he can make me happy. You understand?"

"Yes." That Heero understood. When you fell in love, it didn't have to make sense to anyone else.

Then he noticed a familiar, undesirable face as a man entered the crowded building, and beyond him was the girl from Barton's gang. Heero caught Wufei's eyes as the man returned, clutching three beers in his hands. He signaled his friend with a sharp tilt of his head and continued to watch the dangerous pair through his bangs.

"What is it?" Wufei asked while scanning the room.

"Near the door. I believe it's the spy Trowa is hiding from."

"Middie? You mean that pirate or gang girl? You see her?"

Wufei made a job of setting the glasses on the table, turning to look without making it known he was doing so. "That's her. What about him? Do you recognize him?"

"Him? Your questions more and more seem to be coming out of some continuing conversation with yourself."

"The man at the table with her." Wufei bit off each word with an irritable edge. "She is seated with a man."

"Sogran," Hilde supplied. "A real scum of the earth."

"A few days ago I saw him running a boat past Sublimity on his way, I assumed, to Tumult." Heero sipped his drink. "He is bad news."

"It's time for you to go, I know, honey." Hilde took Wufei by the arm and pulled him along. "We'll be just a few minutes," she said to Heero over her shoulder. "Meet you at the boat."

Heero paid the tab and left to wend his own way to where his boat was harbored. The Rogue River, fretted with sunlight, moved so slowly it seemed still. He passed a line of little shops, jewelers', goldsmiths', that looked as if they'd been there forever, passed down from father to son for years. It was a pleasure to walk on old stone, to look at old gold, to breathe old air. It was especially nice to be alone awhile. He wasn't good with people and Wufei and Hilde had jarred his nerves throughout the entire trip. It was obvious that they didn't want to part, so why hadn't Wufei done something about it? Wufei was excellent help on the boat, extremely generous and hardworking, but he wasn't a substitute for Duo. Wufei Chang was not as easy for him to get along with, especially when he was being a lovesick fool.

Heero chose a glove shop and entered. A lady instantly offered him assistance and found him buttery soft but tough work gloves in two sizes and colors. Heero chose two of each color in the medium size, paid, and left. Wufei could use a pair of his own for the trip home. A thank you gift. And Duo, he hoped, would see his gift of new gloves as a symbol. Soon he'd be well enough to rejoin him at the helm. Soon, Duo would be at his side and they would work together again.

It would be good for Duo to get away from Quatre and his scheming ways. It was at that moment Heero decided that he would be a part of the mission to steal the plans. He could no longer trust Winner to ensure Duo's safety, especially around that pervert, Khushrenada. Sure, Chang would be there, but so would he and Heero would make sure that Barton was, too. No matter what shape his leg was in, Heero would make certain he was a part of the infiltration team. Winner might discount Duo's life, but not the Cajun's.

He smiled, content with his solution to any potential Winner issues at last, and walked on. He stopped every now and then to look at the Rogue and its tranquil passage. He held the gloves against his face, feeling comforted, and thought random thoughts of home.

(0)

Heero returned home to chaos. He and Wufei could hear the shouting from off shore. As they ran from the dock, they saw the carriages, including the sheriff's paddy wagon and Quatre's.

"If you don't settle down, Mr. Maxwell, you'll be in handcuffs, too!" Sheriff Trant Clark threatened.

Heero ran faster. Wufei was right on his heels.

Quatre's face was the color of crushed red currents. He had to be as mad as hell, Heero guessed. What impressed Heero was how reasonable and controlled Quatre's voice was, under the circumstances.

"I'm sure Duo will behave himself if you remove the manacles from Mr. Barton and leave him in my care. Call it house arrest, but let him stay at my place. As you can tell, he's injured and requires medical care."

"What's going on ?!" Chang demanded.

"This asshole's arresting Trowa for the murder of Barton's men!" Duo nearly burst from the grip two officers had on his arms. A third joined them.

"_Barton's_ men? He hasn't been out of the house for weeks? What nonsense is this? I demand an explanation!" Chang was in Trant's face now.

"The pirates!" Duo shouted.

"This is all a misunderstanding," Heero said. He removed all trace of emotion when he said that. He found it often got him more attention.

"Which we'll work out downtown." Trant jerked his head to the side. "Take him!" He poked Wufei in the chest. "Get outta my way or I'll have you locked up for … for… police interference."

Trowa limped off, his leg dragging, but the sheriff didn't seem care if it had been amputated to the knee. Quatre squeezed in under Trowa's shoulder, wrapped an arm around his waist, and half carried him along. "We'll settle this, Trowa. I promise."

Unfortunately, the warrant for Trowa's arrest was longer than even Winner's considerable influence could abridge. Gambling, cheating at gambling, bribery, robbery filled out the rap sheet, just after murder.

"Who trumped up these charges?" Wufei demanded.

"You his lawyer or something now, Mr. Chang?" the sheriff asked.

Wufei looked to Trowa who looked to Quatre. It was Quatre who spoke up. "Yes."

Trant grumbled, but scanned the paperwork. "Filed it yesterday. Took awhile to locate you, Mr. Barton. Let's see… Says here her name's Middie Barton."

"She bust into my house and wrecked it looking for him," Duo shouted. "She's got some vendetta against him, can't ya see?!"

Of course he couldn't. The sheriff only knew what he knew, and the rap sheet was pretty detailed. Duo vowed to get her himself and wring her neck or bring her back to face the wrath of Duo Maxwell.

Trowa let out a moan and eased himself down in a chair, crossed his long legs, and shook his head in wonder. It was hard to believe that such a low, soft voice could hold such a cutting edge. "Leave her out of it." It came out between a hiss and a whisper.

"But Trowa, she has to drop these charges!" Quatre cried out.

"Just who is this girl, your sister?" Trant asked Trowa.

"Middie is the adopted daughter of Dekim Barton," he said. "She is…was… I don't know… was in love with me. I didn't feel the same way and when I ran away, she… I can't believe she'd go this far, though."

"A woman scorned," Trant said as if that explained it all. "She'll have to show for the trial. If she don't, I'll drop it all. If she does, well, that's for the judge.

Wufei argued to have Trowa released, and lost. L5 law wasn't identical to the city-state of Sanc. Trowa would have to remain in jail until charges were dropped or until his trial. Nothing any of them said could change the facts, and so, they watched as Trowa was carried to a cell and locked behind bars.

(o)

Wufei chose to stay with him, although Quatre had so far ignored his presence. He agreed that he was in no shape to return home and brood alone, but that was all he could do. His mind had shut down. He fretted away in a world of his own, while somewhere in the background he was mindful of Wufei's grumblings as he examined book after book. He was researching the Winner's extensive law collection, searching for precedents, leads, anything he could use-- of that Quatre was aware. It was on the fringes of his consciousness.

Quatre drank his tea, looking towards the window but not through it. He felt he had stepped back as one might from one of those thresholds painted by one of those Great Masters where nothing lies beyond the open door but the tall blue sky or bottomless sea—unknown, unending blue. He folded his arms hard against his chest. His throat was killing him; it was as bad as the strep throat he'd had that one time. _Don't cry. Think._

Quatre realized how much he needed his friends to lean on. He regretted not having valued Duo and Heero as they deserved. So this was his penance? Losing the one he cherished more than anyone else? Then he would have to make it up to them. To everyone.

End Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Sixteen**

Duo, Heero, Wufei (POV)

* * *

In the city-state of Sanc, a promise of marriage was binding, and breaking an engagement informally was a crime. Trowa running out on Middie would be considered extremely informal. Wufei argued that Trant only had the girl's word that there was an engagement to begin with, and that it wasn't true. Trant said that was enough. Trowa would have to remain in jail until his accuser dropped the charges or until his trial. It didn't help that Middie, the adopted daughter of Dekim Barton, agreed to help Trant get proof of other crimes Trowa committed as a mercenary, including cheating and gambling. And so, Trowa was jailed.

Heero had been the most composed man Duo had ever known—until he met Trowa Barton. The Cajun was even more self-reliant and self-contained. Even his anger was self-contained. Duo just hoped the guy knew how far he could take a relationship before it was irrevocably revoked. Trowa had declined Quatre's visits. He only talked to his friends through Wufei, who was acting as his counselor. Quatre, generous and gracious down to the bone, paid Wufei handsomely and while he pined away his days in solitary at his estate.

Trowa would not tarnish Winner's name with his infamy. It was as if he'd resigned himself to fate. Possibly he was tired of running from Dekim, but he did not reveal his soul or offer information to Wufei.

"I left, wondering why I even came," summed up Wufei's last visit with the Cajun.

Duo and Heero invited the frustrated Wufei to join them at the Saturday market. Together, they conducted their usual circuit with their goat cart, dined on the bounty of summer harvests, and secured supplies. When it was time to go, Wufei walked to their home to look over the improvements. Heero gave him the tour with special emphasis on the nearly operable soaking tub. That was where Duo found them after unloading the goat cart.

"Listen, guys," Duo told them. "I'm worried about Quatre. I'll take the goats back to his barn and see if he'll talk to me."

No one tried to stop him. In fact, at the estate he was warmly welcomed. Rashid was delighted to let Duo in. "Maybe you can coerce the young master out of his room."

"I'll do my best," Duo assured Quatre's long-time servant and bodyguard.

"Quat! Open up! I hate standing here yelling at a door."

He heard a shuffling inside the room and then Quatre's voice very close to the door. "Duo, please go."

"I will when I've had my say. You are both assholes. You've declared the situation hopeless and totally given up. Any fool can see you're in lo-"

The door opened and he almost fell on his head. "—ove!"

"Shhh!" The door slammed shut and a teary-eyed Quatre stood before him. "They'll hear!"

"Who? The help? Don't you think they know where you sleep at night, what you do with Trowa in bed? The servants that change your bed linens aren't rubes! Are you that naïve?"

Quatre slumped onto his bed, which was a mess. "I suppose you're right."

"'Bout time you got that straight. As I was sayin', you are both assholes. Big Twit is clammed up in his cell. He won't let you get drawn into his troubles cuz he won't, and I quote, 'besmirch Winner's reputation and good name.' How's that for rat's-ass stupid and donkey-bum stubborn? Don't answer! You're no better. In fact, you're the moron hiding in his room! It's like you guys never had friends to trust or lean on, ones that are able and willing to go that extra mile for you. Friends that—"

Quatre cut his tirade off. "I haven't. Ever. Not ones I didn't pay to befriend me."

"Ah, man… I mean, I'm from the streets of L2 and I never took money for nothing like that. Not sex and not my loyalty."

"Not a house?" Quatre asked his question in a timid voice.

"No, or a house. If you think you've been buying my friendship with a remodel then you are a bigger asswipe than I thought."

Quatre flung himself at his friend and enveloped him in a needy embrace. "N-no, I didn't. I was afraid you might see it that way, though. Oh, Duo!"

Duo held on tight and smoothed a hand along his back, feeling Quatre's silky shirt and the slender body underneath. "Aw, now don't start cryin', Quat. I can't take that."

Quatre sobbed harder, causing Duo to break down and join him. "Damn."

After a mutual decision to dry up, they broke apart and sat side by side on the bed. Quatre needed to get a few things off his chest, Duo figured, so he waited.

"All my life," Quatre began shakily, "I've been able to…sense how others have felt. Like I knew you and Heero were in love the first time I saw you together. It was like birds singing on high."

Duo laughed at what he said. "Yeah, it still is."

"But when people had their hearts trampled and broken, it was devastating. I promised myself never to feel that way about anyone so I wouldn't have to suffer."

"That sucked."

Quatre smiled. "Yes, it did, but it kept me safe."

"Until you met Big Twit, er, Trowa."

"Yes, he got past my guard and charmed the sense right out of my head."

"Not enough of it."

"That's why when he shut me out it hurt so bad. I could feel his love and pain and then I knew why I never wanted friends."

"Tough shit. You gotta take your downs with your ups. Now, your bud's at a real low point in his life. He's humiliated and is sure he'll never be worthy of a man like you now. But, what you've got and what he's got is us, 'Ro and 'Fei and me. We won't let him go to jail for life. We'll get him out. What you need to do is get yourself together and be there when he's freed. I don't know what to tell you about how to get him back, but you're a clever guy, I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Oh, Duo. I don't deserve you."

"Yeah, you do. We're buds and that's what buds are for. If we don't stick together and help one another, no one else will. Now, get up and get out there and show your face. You've done nothing wrong."

"My father would think so. Homosexuality—"

"Is just a way of life for some of us. Someday it will be accepted. Hey, maybe you can get Zechs to use his political clout to legalize it!"

"Maybe I can. Thanks, Duo, for coming here and helping me. You made me listen to things I needed to hear."

"No prob! Now, I gotta go and convince my man to take off a few days to go Middie-hunting."

"I don't suppose you'd take my money to hold you over?"

"Then you suppose wrong!" Duo laughed and Quatre joined in.

"Then, let me know what your plans are and I'll help you with supplies, deal?"

"Deal!"

(o)

The first thing Duo told Heero when he got back to their house was that Quatre was okay; the second was that he was going to provide supplies for their mission; the third was that they had a mission to save Trowa. Something had to be done and soon. Having had the financial burden of taking time off from work lifted, Duo and Heero could begin a plan of action to track Middie down. Duo and Heero agreed to sleep on it and start over in the morning when they were fresh.

The next morning was Sunday, their day of rest. Before the cleanup crew arrived, Heero and Duo made a mess of their sheets with their tussling and love-making, and they worked up an appetite. Heero volunteered to make coffee and let Duo clean himself up.

"Just don't fall back asleep," Heero warned him.

Far from being asleep when Heero came in to check on his progress, Duo was in beautiful disarray on the bed lounging in drawstring pants. Heero stood by their bedroom window, sipping his drink, dressed to go out, and watching the construction workers. This was a skeleton crew working a couple hours to clean up before rain could damage the remaining materials. If he dared to look over and down at Duo, he'd be back in bed, too, and with the men hovering about outside their window there wasn't privacy for what he'd want to do with Duo.

"You should get dressed," he told him.

"Oka-ay," Duo drawled, "while we think about what's up. First thing I thought of was that Trowa said he was from the L3 sector and traveled with a circus."

"And Winner said the circus had a circuit bringing it through here on its way to its wintering location." Heero nodded. "Are you thinking he may have circus associates that might help him?"

"Yeah, and I'm thinkin' family. He had family once in the L3 area. Wouldn't they want to vouch for his character or something? Get him out of the mess he's in?"

"If that's possible. If Winner can't swing anything, I don't know who can."

"Quatre is clever, but slinging money at Sheriff Trent isn't the way. Listen, 'Ro, the house is about done, I'm good as new and we have work to do." He twirled a lock of loose hair around a finger.

"And you want me to say you can come back to work."

"I want you to _want_ me to come back to work and do some snooping."

Heero gave in. "Wufei wants to visit Hilde, so we can drop him there for a week while we hunt down the circus and that Middie girl."

Duo's smile widened. He tossed back the worried tendril of hair as if telling it to go to hell—to the delight of the devil. He rose off the bed and angled himself closer to Heero. "You are so sexy when you give in."

"I'll give…in… even more," Heero said mixing a purr with a growl.

Duo readied himself for that rock-steady, Heero-signature-tight embrace that he'd grown so fond of. Their intimate moment, however, was interrupted by a workman, banging on the window. "Gotta minute?"

They did. Duo threw on a shirt and joined Heero and the crew out-of-doors. Most of the men were standing around or staring wistfully at the packed lunches piled on a wood pile.

"We gots this extra material, you know, and we could haul it off and all but since you've got that little dog, we could build it a house."

"Hell, yeah, that's super. Ruggles would love an outside place of his own."

The old outhouse was disassembled, the hole filled in with rock and dirt, and the wood burned. The new indoor bath house and WC was operable, although they hadn't initiated the giant tub yet. The first tub began life as a horse trough, something they didn't think would excite Wufei, but then, he had a horse so maybe it would! It was downgraded to become the wash tub, while Quatre ordered a new one built to Duo's specifications. And it was delivered on a huge wagon. Solid wood and expertly hand crafted -- smoothed, joined and sealed, with graceful legs and detailed carvings of roses in the corners. The wood shone dark with layers of varnish. Duo adored it, but couldn't use it for another week while the wood sealant "soaked" in, so he lovingly wiped it down every day. Heero was close to being jealous of the damned thing.

"Certainly," Heero agreed. "Build Ruggles a doghouse. He's been patient." He turned to Duo. "And so have you. After last night's marathon in bed, you proved yourself ready to hit the river again." He couldn't help but smile as Duo's eyes turned smoky with lust. "I want you to come with me when I search for that girl." He lowered his voice to a whisper and tugged on Duo's shirt. "I've missed you."

That earned him a quick kiss out of sight of the crew and Duo's help weeding, watering, and harvesting fruit and vegetables from the garden for the rest of the afternoon. The plums, his favorite, were divine.

(o)

Wufei agreed with wholehearted enthusiasm to join Heero and Duo on their journey southward, mostly to see Hilde, but also to watch for Middie, should she pass through Serendipity. He had no doubt that Duo was strong enough to handle the flatboat, despite Yuy's concerns. Who he had serious misgivings about was Trowa. He believed that Trowa was withholding information that could help them in their search, and intended to meet with both the reluctant, taciturn Cajun and the ardent, agreeable Quatre before taking leave of Sublimity.

So, the next day when Duo and Heero packed for travel, Wufei met with Trowa and then Quatre one last time. Trowa reluctantly told him about a few hideouts further inland, but wouldn't go into detail.

He hit Winner's place next, where he was pleased to find that Duo had indeed enticed the occupant out of his doldrums. Quatre had been busy going through Trowa's travel bag looking for photos, letters, or other clues to his past, and located maps. Putting the information together Wufei knew Duo and Heero could come up with plan, but it would take time away from their business. Winner assured him that he would cover the costs without making Heero or Duo feel beholding to him.

Saving Trowa had become a mutual mission for them all.

As a result, the river trip to Serendipity was a pleasant one. The weather was warm, but fine and dry for a change. Wufei shared his maps, information, and Quatre's offer to provide support. Duo told him he and Quatre already had an understanding, but thanks anyway, especially for the maps. Heero shared their food and coveted the maps, studying them every chance he got.

(o)

After dropping Wufei at Hilde's, Heero let her talk them into staying the night. Howard dropped by keen to hear the latest news and pass on a bit of his own. Duo kept one eye on his ex-employer and Heero waited. He figured that the man would say something when he was ready.

"…Then you all can prepare for your journey well rested," Hilde said. "Wufei and I have other business to discuss."

"Hn." Heero didn't have to see Chang's face to know the sexual fantasies at work in the man's head at that suggestion. He'd been chipper the entire river trip, and, being a man, Heero knew it had to be the anticipation of a sexual encounter to fire up Chang that much. He based that on his own experience, and raked Duos bangs with his fingers as a reminder of what kept his heart humming.

Duo was already stretched full out on her couch. He took no convincing to get a good night's sleep. Heero sat cradling Duo's head on his lap and running a hand along the long braid like he might smooth a cat's back.

Hilde went on to assure them that she was on board. "If that Middie girl comes this way, we'll get her and hold her. No lying little scoundrel's going to run off and leave Trowclair cooling his heels in jail, then get back in time to pitch her lies to the judge."

"I just hope the maps Trowa's given us help," Heero said.

"Trowa had practically nothing to do with it. Winner located them. _I_ gave them to you," Wufei clarified.

"But they _were _Trowa's," Duo insisted. "Let's just hope if she's hiding inland that she uses the same maps."

"Trowa said she's hidden out near a place called Moose Factory, but that was in the past," Wufei said.

"So Trowclair did help," Hilde teased.

"I said 'practically'!"

"Sugar, I know." Hilde kissed Wufei and shut him up.

Heero consulted the map one more time and Duo followed his finger, tracing the "preferred" route through swamps, streams, falls, and rapids to that destination. Heero hoped Duo would be up to the trip, but wouldn't insult him by doubting his ability. They'd make it, sooner or later, but they'd make it together.

"We'll find her either along this track or she comes through Serendipity or she's back in Tumult with Barton's people," Heero said. Heero knew and hated that last possibility. "This side trip will take week. And if we get back empty-handed and you haven't seen her, then we go north."

"Well, don't you worry none. We got Sweepers covering your route so you won't lose your business," Howard assured them. "Your friend, Mr. Winner's, got it all taken account of. Some of my boys are up the way at the Tallgeese River Post packing supplies for you. That Winner kid's building something secret in there. Something big up that way."

Both Duo and Heero shot him a hot stare.

"Hey! It's just between us and him. I know that! Nothin' escapes these lips what isn't supposed to."

"Thanks, Howie," Duo said. "I wouldn't want Winner's secrets exposed. Anyway, it's nice that he's helping us as best he can. He doesn't want Heero to lose his freight contracts while he helps Trowa. And Quat's not so stupid to think he could go where 'Ro and me can."

It wasn't so much what he'd said but how he'd said it that grabbed Heero's attention. It just now occurred to him, although it must have been coming on slowly for some time. All that time in Winner's house, having lessons in being a gentleman, had worn off in Duo's speech patterns. His L2 accent was there, but his heavy slang was fading.

The next morning Heero and Duo stocked up on tobacco for a trading, but little else. They shoved off south for less than a mile to catch the inland river route. Bales of beaver pelts awaited loading at the Tallgeese River Post, located on the delta of the Tallgeese River which fed the mighty Rogue. Smaller boats, handled by the sweepers and others, would move the pelts to the larger Serendipity wharf.

The post, founded decades earlier by fur traders, and once under the control of the Alliance Company, was a thriving but tiny port, similar to the one in Tumbletown. An elegant house surrounded by substantial barns and out-buildings anchored the post. This was Winner family property; they'd been told it had been purchased in preparation for his steamboat building.

Quatre, good to his word, had a two-man boat and supplies waiting for them. They tied up the flatboat and transferred part of their tobacco and food freight to the much smaller skiff. Where they were headed inland, they would have to drag their boat through swamps, so a small light boat was required. The miscellaneous boxes of goods had to be carefully loaded. To pack well and to combine weight and bulk, in the proper proportion, especially when there was a variety of goods, required skill and hard work. Perishable goods such as sugar, salt, flour, beans and crackers were placed on top of canned goods. This arrangement prevented cargo spoilage by water entering the small storage box.

The next morning, Duo was up to forging on, so the two-man brigade headed up the Tallgeese River, crossing the Pigeon Portage and poling through Mallard Lake to Loon Lake.

Between Loon Lake and the winding, narrow stretch of water known as Crooked Lake was a dry stretch. Here they had to portage across the height of land that divided the watersheds of the Rogue River to the bay opening to the great sea beyond. River veterans like Heero were unimpressed: the route was not a dramatic pinnacle of rock, but simply a low and swampy woodland trail. But to a city-boy like Duo, this was an exciting adventure.

At the end of the trail, they were rewarded with the shimmery view of the upper end of the Whiskey Hill waterway. If winds were high, the trip through Whiskey Hill Lake would be dangerous.

"I think we are early enough in the day to miss the wind," Heero told Duo.

"Wow," Duo said, and not in response to what Heero had told him. As the skiff rounded Gundam Point, their paddles fell silent. The mythical figures of Sandrock and Tallgeese loomed into view on the rocky cliffs.

"If Trowa were with us, I'm sure he'd be able to do more than just name the rocks," Heero said.

"'Course, if he was with us, he'd be free and we wouldn't need to do this."

Heero rewarded Duo with an "Idiot," and pressed onwards.

At the northeast end of the Lake, rested the Whiskey Hill Lake House, part of the river trader's supply chain. Here, Duo and Heero traded sought after fresh food and tobacco for information and protection for a good night's rest. They learned no news of pirates, girls, or travelers besides the expected and well-known traders.

The next morning they set off before dawn, beginning their descent of the Whiskey Hill waterway. First was a nasty, buggy passing through the swampy stretch of Corsica marsh, where they both thanked Wufei's ancestors for teaching him to prepare the best insect repellent ever.

Thankfully they cleared the marsh in an hour and were following a swift, serpentine path through churning waters and narrow gorges throughout the hot afternoon. Portages were frequent, sometimes over well-worn trails, sometimes over treacherous, jagged rocks. After the previous day's workout, another long day was not going to happen. Duo's arm was aching many hours before dusk, so they found a dry sheltered spot to camp under the stars and rest. He was stiff, but not discouraged with their non-existent results locating sight or word of Middie's whereabouts.

"The next stop is close," Heero told him. "It's a more likely spot for her to hold up. A little further off the trail."

"'Sokay, 'Ro. I'm getting back into shape. I'll be better tomorrow."

The fact that he fell instantly asleep told Heero more about his lover's constitution than words. He hoped he wasn't pushing him too hard and doubted the wisdom of letting him come on the trip. Had he been alone he would have traveled much further and faster. But the look in Duo's eyes, knowing how much Heero trusted his judgment, had overwhelmed Heero's senses. Duo could do that to him with just a look. Would he always be so vulnerable to Duo's charms, he wondered? Yes. Yes, of course, because it made life worth living.

The next morning they were up with the songbirds. Split Rock Falls was a sight in the glow of the rising sun. From there, the river plunged into the quiet waters of Lonefir Lake, heading for the newly-constructed post, Lonefir House, near the north end of the Lake.

They replenished their supplies, trading tobacco, and spent the day exchanging news and looking for any sign that Middie had recently traveled through. They slept in a camp house near the wharf, listening to the wave's slap upon the supports and an owl's soulful hoot keeping time.

Refreshed again, the two men paddled back to the Whiskey Hill waterway, just in time to run and lift their way through the long series of rapids leading to Thundering Falls.

They relished the challenge. The water soaked their skin, cooling them. They yelled and cheered as the light boat rose and crashed through the rough water. Using paddles to push off the sharp rocks and guide the craft, Duo and Heero rode out the rapids. They were young, healthy males with toned bodies, strong muscles; they were in their prime. Together they shouted at the high walls of rock and heard the answering echo. Nothing was better than that ride and to have survived it.

They rested at the end of the rapids. Heero was first to strip off his wet clothes and then Duo followed, laying everything out on the hot flat rocks. They emptied the boat and set it on the shore to dry inside. Heero found a wide, level rock and beckoned Duo over to join him. There they lay side by side to dry and sleep an hour, listening to the roar of the water and touching finger tips. They had bested the rapids, they had each other, and they had a cause to keep them energized.

They would need that youthful energy for the challenges to come. With a quick glance at the solitary pillar of the Conjuring House Rock rising up from the tumbling water, they decided to pole their way down Coal Creek, skirting the dangerous, dramatic drop-off of the exposed rocky cliffs overlooking the clay-covered bay lowlands.

Free of the Falls, they struggled through the next miles the trip, running, lining and portaging the river's relentless current. Just upstream from the last piddle of a river, the men glanced longingly at the remnants of Drain House, a former fur trading post that had been closed for almost 20 years.

"We'll camp here anyway. For all we know this is used as a pirate hangout some of the time."

Lucky for them, there were no pirates, just raccoons, eager to loot their boat that night. They slept long into the morning, breaking for a gentle lovemaking session. A bite to eat and they were back on the Whiskey Hill River, which broadened as it was joined by two other rivers. The resulting river was named the Moose River. Paddling steadily and monotonously, Heero and Duo reached their Moose Factory destination before noon.

At Moose Factory, the final bales of tobacco were exchanged for coins, which they pocketed before heading to the only saloon within miles for a cool drink and a solid meal.

No sign of river pirates. No members of Barton's gang. No Middie. Wherever she was, it wasn't in her usual haunts. After that there was nothing left to do but return back the way they had come.

They returned to the Rogue none the wiser, but Duo was back in shape. They sent a short note to Wufei through Howard's men, and then turned the flatboat northward.

There was no Middie in the Tumult area either. Duo and Heero did learn something of value, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. The circus was a few miles inland and moving south. Shipping overland might take the circus a week to get to Sublimity. Roads were terrible, not maintained, broken by swampy land, and beset by bandits, which was why river trade was bustling. The circus animals, however, wouldn't tolerate river travel.

Duo and Heero raced back to home, docked their boat, and borrowed Winners' horses for a fast ride north. This was something a city-bred boy like Duo was not fond of doing either, but there was no other way. They met up with the circus the two days later, and there they finally discovered something they were looking for.

(o)

While Heero and Duo were tracking the elusive "Middie" inland, Wufei and Hilde wasted no time carrying out their end of the plan. Wufei and Hilde walked the beat. They checked the bars and lowlife hangouts near the docks and poorer parts of town. If Middie showed her face in Sublimity, they would know and act upon it.

That didn't mean Wufei didn't have romance on his mind. On this one particular evening at the week's end, blossoms of honeysuckle perfumed the sultry air as they passed the park for the third time. All they needed, he imagined, was music to spark her affections. He plucked a long narrow leaf from a tree. He held it taut between his fingers, put the edge to his lips, and played a tune as if it were a kazoo.

"How pretty! Was that Chinese?" Hilde asked.

"Yes. A folk tune. A 75 year old woman taught it to me. She played the 'leaf' too." He smiled with the memory.

"Hmmm, nice evening."

"Yes," he agreed in a rush. "Let's call it a short night and go back."

"Oh, you charmer," Hilde said with a wry smile. "You know what happens if we keep fooling around that way."

"You're not--?!"

"Shhh!" Hilde hissed and pulled him into the shadows.

He followed her directions without question, his heart racing with excitement and his mind reeling with concerns. _Is it possible I'm so blessed to have a woman so fertile? I am to be a father?! Dear Buddha in all your incarnations! Can we afford it? Who cares? It doesn't matter really, does it? We can't go backwards. _

Hilde was not a weak or foolish woman. His admiration for her had grown as he knew her better. If he earned a better salary, if he could afford a larger home and another horse, then he might consider proposing marriage. They were both eighteen, the perfect age_. If only!_

"That's her," Hilde whispered. "Hold it. I'll get her to come this way. You incapacitate her and—"

"I do what?!"

Miss Hilde was also over zealous.

"Knock her out; keep her silent, you know. Darn! She's going the wrong way. Now, be ready when we walk by!"

And she was gone.

He couldn't hit a woman, could he? What a dishonorable man he had become. His woman he had slept with and was now ruined since he hadn't the earnings to marry her. Now he must hit another, because somehow, Hilde had befriended her and was walking arm in arm his way.

"Forgive me, ancestors," he whispered.

Middie must have been completely unsuspecting and unaware of Wufei when he struck her from behind. She collapsed without a whimper and he caught her before her head hit the ground.

"Good job! You'll have to show me those exotic Chinese moves sometimes. Now we'll each hitch one of her arms over our necks and make like she's on a drunk and we're walking her home. It's all good, isn't darling?"

It all could be good, but right at the moment Wufei felt it was all as far from good as it could be, except that Hilde was gazing up at him with adoring eyes. That was good. Very, very good. Now, what had he done to get her to look at him that way, he wondered? He should do it again.

Sweepers had their own special drunk tank—a room where they could stow away one of their team hiding from the law or sleep off an inebriated state. Hilde put the girl in the lockup, and then found a member of the Sweepers, who was recovering from an injury and not working, to guard the door.

"Now, we tell Duo and wait."

The wait was shorter than they thought. Wufei received word to return to Sublimity. His client needed him. Hilde booked him passage on a Sweepers quick-boat and wished him good luck.

"Miss Hilde—" He hadn't broached the subject of their future. There hadn't been any privacy. He hadn't the words. He still hadn't.

"Don't you worry yourself none about me. I'm just fine. You take care of your friends and hurry on back as fast as you can."

He squeezed her arm and nodded, grateful not to have to say what he couldn't. "I shall return in two days, or write."

"You do that, sweetie. Now hurry!"

When he arrived at the dock to Duo and Heero's home, he was in for a surprise. So were they when he told them about capturing Middie. He had ten minutes to meet the newest game card before going to the jail to play his biggest hand yet.

"This is Chang Wufei, Trowa's lawyer." Duo said. "'Fei, this is Catharine Bloom from the circus. She claims Trowa is her brother. And she can prove he's a part of the circus. We will fill you in on the way to the jail."

(o)

Wufei would make this short. And why not? He was about to win. It would be an injustice to drag it out just to gloat. "Sheriff Trant. This man you are holding is Triton Bloom, not that Nanashi character the girl claimed him to be. I demand you free him at once."

"I suppose you have proof?"

Wufei nodded and Heero escorted Catharine into the room. Trowa leaned his head back against the brickwork of the enclosure; his cigarette sparked the night as he drew on it. He appeared calm but the glimmer in his one visible eye signaled his interest, possibly his recognition.

"I expect you can imagine how I've been worried," Catharine opined to her borther, "not knowing where Triton had disappeared to."

The room seemed to be misting over with cheap emotion. It was all strictly a gamble.

"We were from a wealthy family. Our caravan on holiday was attacked by thieves and our parents killed. I was sold to the circus and had been hunting for him for years. Knew him from the scar over his right eye, hidden by his bangs. And he has a tattoo of the circus emblem on his right hip."

Trowa swept back his bangs, revealing the scar, and then loosened his belt and dropped his leather pants far enough to display the crest which matched the one on the flyer posted around town.

"Now, we need our performer immediately to practice. You do want the show to go on, don't you?" Catharine asked.

Trowa opened his mouth then shut it after Wufei scaled him with a razor-sharp look. He was not going to show off his injuries which might prevent him from performing. He was not going to say a thing. He was going to be mute and and dumb and put on a good show, like an Imperial carp in the Imperial pool in the Imperial garden of the L5 colony. Trowa sucked on his cigarette and struck a pose. What a ham, Wufei thought. Or a trophy fish.

And it worked.

No, the sheriff didn't want to be the one responsible for stopping the show. He knew the first circus trailers would be arriving and setting up on the open commons below the Saturday market. Money would be made selling goods to the circus folks and visitors sure to pout into the small town. Livelihoods depended on the success of the event.

"Where is this young lady whose fallacious testimony put him here in the first place?" Wufei demanded. Of course, Wufei knew where Middie was locked away and he knew she wasn't going to make her court date in a week. He could see Trant sweating and decided to help him out. He laid out his hand.

"What if I promise to return the accused should your Miss…ah… Middie Une reappear at that time? Winner would be happy to ensure bail."

Yes, that would suffice. The show would go on. Justice would be served. The bail itself could run his department for the next year.

"Set him free," Trant shouted back to one of his men.

They all regrouped an hour later in Winner's dining room for a little celebration. Quatre was glowing and very quiet, doing his best to make Trowa's sister comfortable. Trowa, on the other hand, was acting particularly derisive.

"Cat'arine. You say you are my sister?" he said, but his tone suggested that it was something best forgotten.

"It's possible. You could be Triton Bloom." She had about her that self-deprecating air of someone who, not born to sainthood, had gone out to get it.

"You fuckin' decided dis after knowing me for how many years?"

Apparently she knew when she'd been licked and, blushing, headed to the window. Wufei was a little surprised that she hadn't made the journey on her hands and knees. Quatre rushed to her side and returned her to her seat, whispering reassurances.

Trowa kept his opinion brief. "Hn."

She appeared to chew the question over with her bite of sandwich. The single, unconcerned syllable irritated her to death. She repeated her earlier reply. "It's quite possible. I thought so from the start, when you first ran with the circus, but I had no proof. And then it was too late. I have a picture of our uncle. You can see the likeness for yourself."

Trowa studied picture and then the coal end of his cigarette, his expression beautifully reflecting a man torn between something and something. Everyone waited for Trowa to fill in those blanks—blanks probably as much to Trowa as to his visitors—torn between nothing and nothing. Trowa's sigh was resigned, as if he, the lone keeper of the truth, now had to give it up.

Wufei ached to hit him.

He stubbed his cigarette out suddenly, collected his wine glass, and went to the door. "Well, everyone. Meet my sister, Cat'erine Bloom. My name's Triton Bloom, as if I needed the burden of anoder name. And, now, I'm going to sleep in my bed, if you'll excuse me."

This sudden acceptance came a surprise to everyone. Trowa seemed to always be traveling light, so to speak, without benefit of family. Quatre rose immediately. His face looked devoid of color.

"Go," Wufei said with a brush of his hand. "We can entertain Miss Bloom and see that she gets to her room. Talk to him."

* * *

**End Chapter 16**

What will happen with Quatre and Trowa now? TBC in chapter 17


	17. Chapter 17

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Seventeen**

Quatre, Duo, Quatre, Wufei, Quatre (POV)

* * *

"I won't make this _difficile_ fo you, _mon ami_. My… sister… she and I'll be out of your house in de mornin'. De circus'll be close enough by dat time and we'll move into a caravan. You've been very charitable and I'm in your debt."

"Trowa! Do you know whom you are speaking to? This is me, Quatre! You sound like a stranger. Listen, you have to know that you are welcome to stay here… forever. Consider this your home."

"Home? I've got no home. I'm de trader an' its time to move on. I'll work fo de circus 'til I get de money to buy a skiff."

"But that will take you far away. The circus will be out of the Kingdom of Sanc by winter!"

"Den so will I."

"Trowa! What about us? What we have? Don't act like you have forgotten everything. We made love on that very bed!"

"Look, I don't know," Trowa said less certain, his voice revealing the frustration Quatre guessed he felt. "It's just... It's just not dat big of deal to me, sex isn't. I know you think differently dan I do, an I'm sorry. But to me, having sex wit' someone is no big mystery; it's not somet'ing dat feels sacred or symbolic to me. I know you t'ink it should stand for somet'ing, but I guess I just don't know w'at it's supposed to stand for. Maybe I'll find somet'ing deeper. Maybe a woman. And I hope I'll know de difference w'en I do. But w'at I'm up to is just, you know, fucking."

_Liar! I know you are lying!_ "That's obvious," Quatre said, suppressing a sob with a voice almost clinical in its cool exactitude. "Very obvious."

"Okay, it's obvious. I get it."

"It's also kind of too bad," Quatre said, standing up, facing Trowa now. "Not to be harsh, but it is. I wanted more for us than that - now and always. It's possible. Duo and Heero have it, so I know two men can make love work."

"Not everyone can have w'at Duo and Heero have," Trowa said, looking up at Quatre, then away, but not fast enough. Quatre saw the sadness in his eyes and felt awash in the waves of Trowa's anguish.

"Dat's somet'ing I've just come to accept."

_Bullshit!_ "Trowa, you're only eighteen. So am I! We have a lifetime ahead of us."

"Did you ever t'ink that maybe w'at dey have is de exception, and not de rule?"

_Of course it is, but I want it anyway!_ "Let's not go round and round about this," Quatre said, beginning to turn away, but then stopping and looking at Trowa again, his eyes calmer now. "Okay?"

"Fine," Trowa said, standing up. "Fine."

"I love you very much Trowa," Quatre said. He closed in and cupped the side of Trowa's face with his hand scrutinized the tired, handsome features. His intensity caused Trowa to blush. "And I'm proud of you for having made so much of a very difficult life. I just can't believe you're walking away. Leaving me and all…this!"

"It's de way, simple as dat."

"But..."

Trowa turned his back to Quatre and fumbled for matches and a smoke.

"Just be careful," Quatre said. "What looks simple at first rarely stays that way very long, and that includes fucking."

Quatre left the room before he broke down.

(o)

"That doesn't sound good," Duo said. "That was too fast for making up. I got this bad feeling Trowa's playing mind games with Quat, an' he is not the guy to mess with that way, I can tell you."

"You should go to him," Heero said. "Winner's plan needs us all to carry out the assignment. Ah, not to mention you should help him get through this."

"What's Trowa's problem?" Catherine asked. "Isn't he a free man? Shouldn't he be happy, grateful for the help?"

"Trowa is in a bad way," Wufei said.

It was Wufei's turn to summarize the situation, Duo thought. He appeared to enjoy playing lawyer. He would let the scholar dissertate, while he thought out what to do about the problem.

"Think for a minute. When we first met him, he was a loner, trading goods, getting by and hiding from Dekim Barton. In an effort to provide aid to us, he was injured, and put out of work. He was obviously living on the edge for sometime. God knows how long he had been on the run from Dekim Barton. He hadn't a coin of the realm on him. And suddenly he's disabled, and then his possessions and skiff get stolen. He's had to hide out like a coward and mince about dressed as a woman in Winner's shadow. Whatever his sexual orientation is, being exclusively homosexual may not suit him. Being totally dependent on others certainly does not. Then to top it off, he is wrongly accused, jailed, and humiliated. No man wants to be seen as helpless. We freed him, but he is still a marked man and has no means to earn a living. He cannot take more charity from Winner-- that is for certain."

Catherine cut in. "I was serious about inviting him back into the circus. He is a very talented performer."

"But you don't know the extent of his injuries! If he doesn't think he can perform, what must the man be thinking?"

"That's it then!" Duo slapped his hands on the table and stood. "I'm gonna have a little chat with the boys and fix things." As he climbed the stairs to Trowa's room, he chattered on. "No one's been as down and out as me. I know the bottom of the pit and have crawled out."

Duo didn't bother to knock. He opened the door and stuck in his head.

"Tro'? Do not fucking move. I'll be back."

Next, he opened doors until he located Quatre.

"Quat? Buddy of mine, let Duo Maxwell heal all wounds and teach the mute to talk."

"Oh, Duo, I'm not in the mood."

"You think he dumped you, but that's just what he wants you to believe. He wants you to hate him as much as he hates himself and then be rid of him so he can stew in his misery with his black-and-blue ego safely shielded from your pity, or something along those lines."

"Don't you think I know that?! I'm an empath, or has that gotten by my perceptive buddy somehow?"

"You being sarcastic?"

"Never. Now go away."

"Not until you come with me. Gotta face this now."

Duo won and dragged a reluctant Quatre back to Trowa's room. "Tro'? I ain't even askin' permission. I'm here to set you both straight."

Quatre groaned. "Rephrase that. Please."

Trowa stood as they entered the room. He moved stiffly, but he moved without a cane, Duo noted. "I told Quatre that not everyone gets a fairytale ending."

Quatre moaned. "Was that on purpose? The homosexual references?"

"No." Both Duo and Trowa were in agreement on that.

"Listen to me," Duo went on to say. "You've run into some rough times."

"No shit," Trowa drawled, tossing his cigarette butt out the window.

He hitched his weaker leg onto the sill and sat, balanced on the narrow ledge. Duo hoped the man's talents ran to tightrope acts. It was a long drop to the ground outside.

"But you're not stealing food from the trash to eat, sleeping in boxes. I have. You haven't been reduced to selling your body for your next meal, me neither, but I got damned close. Too fucking close. You have the bad fortune of having Dekim-fucking-Barton on your ass, but Quat's got this plan to bring him down, or have you conveniently forgotten saying you were gonna help with that?"

"I ain't fogot."

"Good. I was hoping you hadn't gone brain dead held up in that cell. So, where was I? Oh, yeah, me. I'd sunk rock bottom with a certain slide to hell, when I gotta helping hand from a pug-ugly angel."

"Howard, huh?"

"Yep! Lucky me. He gave me a job and a place to hang my hat."

"An' kicked yo ass out from w'at I kin tell."

"When I needed to move on! That's door's still open, but he could tell I had a future elsewhere. Point being—"

"Glad to hear you have a point."

"I always do. I don't just talk to hear myself speak, ya know. My point here is that I couldn't get out of the pit I'd got stuck in without a helping hand. Sure it's a punch in the gut. I had to suck up my pride and accept it all, and then work my tail off paying off my debt."

"Dis applies to me, you t'ink?"

"Damned right. You got a passel of friends to watch your back, gorgeous guy for you to lean on, even a handy-dandy sister to call family."

Duo watched Trowa scan the rug to Quatre's feet and follow the path to his face. Quatre nodded fractionally. _Go on_, Duo mentally urged him on.

"I'm stronger than I look," Quatre whispered.

Trowa swung his legs into the room and hopped off the window in a single graceful move. "I'm not."

"Aw, shit you two! Talk! Talk! You know why Heero and I get along so well? I will tell you. 'Ro and I don't play games. We share what's on our minds and don't make up barriers to cut one another off. We also haven't had the tough breaks you guys have had, so we've had an easier go of it--"

"Dat's fo sure."

"But that's no excuse for you being assholes. What's important is what we do for each other what we do because we care. I put him first in my mind and he treats me like I'm the most important thing in his life. Ya gotta understand. All my life I've been fighting the odds. Sometimes I can hardly believe my luck! I found someone to love and to love me despite the odds, which, I was told, were about one in a million. I know it's not that bad _now,_ but when you're looking for _that one guy_ it seems impossible." Duo stopped to catch his breath and let his words sink in a little bit. "'Nuff 'bout me. Now, talk. Quatre, you first. Just one gripe."

"I wanted to be there and support you when you were in jail. But you shut me off, Trowa. That hurt so much."

"Okay, Trowa, your turn."

"I ain't wort' shit. It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep."

Quatre flew to him and buried his face in his chest, arms wrapping Trowa in a tight embrace. Duo though it was a good thing Trowa was on his own two feet, not teetering on the windowsill.

"You are not a g-goat and I'm not some damned sheep. You make me feel like a man, Trowa. A special man who could do anything! At least… I could. Now, I don't feel like I can even leave this house again. Not without you being there for me! Don't you see? I have money and… and … things. What I have never had was my heart's delight, a lover, someone who loves me. And I know you didn't mean what you said before. You said I meant nothing to you because you meant to hurt me, to make me turn you out. But I. Know. Differently!"

Trowa shook his head, causing his long bangs to fall over the side of his face. He was hiding a tiny smile. "You do, huh?"

"Yes. I do." Quatre dropped his arms and stepped back a ways. He folded his arms over his chest and looked terribly serious.

"Den, you know I won't wear doz dresses anymo?"

"I don't even want to pretend we aren't lovers. AND… I have a –"

"Don't tell me-- a plan?" Trowa chuckled.

"Well, yes. I have a plan. That's what I do best. I plan. It was something Duo said to me that got me thinking. I know how to get the anti-homosexuality laws off the books, and I will do it."

Trowa pushed the door open. "It's time for you to go now, Duo. Quatre and I kin take it from here juss fine now."

"Yes, thank you Duo for—"

"Kicking your asses, yeah, no problemo. I'll just mosey on along and trust you two will find a way to _re_connect." Duo flashed them a toothy grin and then dashed out.

(o)

"How is your leg, Trowa? Being cramped in that small cell can't have helped your recovery."

"I kin walk."

"You're stiff. Wufei knows ancient Chinese massage. Did you know that?"

"No."

"Hmm. And he taught me some wonderful techniques for loosening you up. Then you need to stretch and get those muscles in shape."

"I suppose you have a plan fo dat too?"

"Oh, I'm coming up with one as we speak. Do you like flowers?"

"I'm 'fraid to answer dat."

"Hmm, well. This room's too stuffy. I know a much better place to take this…discussion. Trust me?"

"No matter w'at, I do trust you."

"Good." Clasping hands with the reticent Trowa felt good, and Quatre could read his subtler feelings better with the contact. "I have something to show you." Quatre smiled and tugged his arm until he lumbered out the door.

"How can you want me? I have not'ing. I'm a marked man. A real li-a-bil-itee."

_Enough of that!_ Quatre shoved the taller man against the hall wall, hard enough to shift a picture frame. It listed several degrees, but didn't fall, nor did Trowa. If the ornate picture frame did come loose, it would land on Trowa's head. But, instead, Quatre's ancestor frowned from his portraiture at a precarious angle. _Tough._ Trowa had an armful of Quatre and his fine, silky hair brushed his nose. Quatre snuggled, licked his jaw found a smooth stretch of bare neck.

"Hey! You bit me!"

"You are certainly marked now!" Quatre giggled when Trowa' eyebrows shot up into his bangs. His cool demeanor was "shot to hell," Quatre thought using Duo's terminology, and giggled more at that revelation. He knew what he felt and what Trowa felt for him was skyrocketing lust and love. He hiccupped and giggled more.

"You goin' _détraqué _(crazy), _mon ami_?"

"Over you!" he blurted out. Quatre favored him with a silly grin before yanking him away from the wall and dragging him down the back stairs to the rear exit.

The sunlight was blinding. Quatre hurried them beneath a long trellis running the back of the great stone house. He headed for one of the greenhouses.

"This is my favorite place to hide. With the windows open, the heat's bearable. I can lie under the palms and feel like I'm back in the L4 colony sector. Do you like it?"

"Yeah," Trowa said. He was gaping at the tall palms undulating in the breeze and the scores of colorful, rare flowering plants he'd never seen before. "Paradise."

"Almost, or it could be. I can try and mold the perfect future, but without you there to share it with me, what's the purpose?

"Damn, yer mushy."

"Oh, I can go absolutely liquid. Just watch." Quatre picked one of the flowers, a pink and white orchid, and stuck it in his hair over an ear. "It's not a great present unless it's wrapped in a way that says WOW!"

Trowa smiled. "I love unwrapping t'ings."

"Go ahead. I know the perfect flower…bed."

Trowa laughed and slapped the teasing man's fine linen-clad ass. "You are relentless."

"Umm, hmm."

"How can you be so sure?"

Quatre did not have to look up. He could feel Trowa's eyes searching his for answers. "You have a kind soul, Trowa, and it ignites me inside. Make love to me, please?"

When they had had sex in the past, Quatre had been the one in charge. Today would be different, he decided. If Trowa was to heal and ever be his equal, he would have to relinquish some of his control. So, Quatre loosened his tie, and then allowed Trowa to remove his clothes and lower him to the soft, moss-covered ground. The feel of those rough calloused hands all over his body prickled his nerves, causing him to tremble.

"You unfold like a flower," Trowa began.

"Ummm…go on."

Trowa kissed the soft exposed neck skin. "You are as soft as a milk maid," Trowa said, growling in his ear.

"Ugh, that's disgusting!" Quatre made a face and slugged at Trowa's arm in a very un-maidenly manner.

As a result, Trowa laughed, and ran his hand up between his thighs. He rolled the pink balls and massaged the sensitive skin behind. He pushed two fingers past the waiting opening. "An' loose as a whore."

"Ah!" Quatre released a surprised gasp and widened eyes as Trowa immediately entered him for the first time. He clutched at the body on top and held on.

Trowa smiled down at him as the fist-tight grip of tender taut resistance gave way and he push-slipped-slid slowly inside. Trowa felt impossibly large. Quatre's breath came in fast, thin pants, and then Trowa filled him completely. The sensation so utterly different and new fueled his passion beyond his imagining. Quatre did not last long. The act was over soon, but not too soon to thrill. His orgasm had been sudden and loud, setting off Trowa's.

He felt Trowa pressed heavily atop him, quake, and curse, stammering into his skin, "Oh fuck, Quatre. Oh...my...fucking...fuck, fuck, fuck!"

He hardly slowed down, bucking hard. Quatre dug his heels into the small of his lover's back, pulling them together tighter, not wanting him to stop. But he did, finally falling limp and gasping.

"Quatre."

"I love you, Trowa. Do you understand that now?"

"Yeah, mon ami. Mais qui. An', Quatre, know dat I do love you."

Quatre felt heat on the back of his neck like something crawling there; he knew that he was blushing as he thought about what he and Trowa had done. He coughed a short embarrassed laugh into his fist, looked around, and then ran his right hand quickly through his hair. In theory, stripped of its specific details, he knew that messing around with a guy was not something he should feel the need to hide, especially when it felt so right. But-

But what? It had been love at first sight. He had flirted with Trowa, or fiercely flirted, once he realized that Trowa was interested in him _that way_. The flirting became a competition - the sexy banter, the double-entendres, winks and touches – all in fun. In a few days, when that first playful kissing in his carriage had turned into playful fondling, hands on top of clothes and then under, the tempting thrill of his mouth on Trowa's skin, the confident licks, nips, and kisses had been too much, Trowa lost the will to say "no."

But that was in the past. This time Trowa had wanted him. When Trowa finally had him stripped of his clothes, naked and hard in his hand, then in his mouth, seduction became sex, then finally fucking. It had felt dangerous and deeply satisfying in equal measures, like breaking a rule and not being caught. But what rule had he broken? What rule really?

"You were sayin' somet'ing 'bout dat Chinese miracle massage?" Trowa asked.

"You want more?!"

(o)

"Well, this has been too long a day for me," Wufei announced. "I'll stop back in tomorrow," he added to the young woman who called herself Catherine Bloom, Trowa's long lost sister.

"Nice meeting you and thanks," she said to his retreating back.

The ride back to his humble apartment should help clear his mind. Wufei was certain. It had before. What a long day! Freeing Trowa had set him adrift on a sea of adrenalin, long worn off. Now he was floating on sadness-- so close sinking into a familiar feeling of depression. He sorely missed the company of Miss Hilde. He had formed an attachment. It wasn't to be denied. But she lived there and he here, and fall was coming and with it his teaching responsibilities. How would they continue? Although his meager teacher's stipend was insufficient to support Hilde, he would be no better off quitting. Well, at least he could move and live in Serendipity. And do what? Maybe they could use a lawyer? He'd have to bone up on the local laws, but how much effort would that take? Practically none for a man with a mind such as his.

This pleasing new possibility for a future made him feel better. Wufei stabled his horse and walked the rest of the way home humming a tune and holding his head high. The box by his door held two letters and a colorful advertisement. He tore open the envelope from Hilde first. Just reading it brought a smile to his lips and he set to writing her reply at once.

"Dear Miss Hilde,

"Yes, all is well that ends well. The plan worked! Trowa Barton is free unless Middie Une shows up unexpectedly.

"You say that Middie has had a breakthrough or a break down. I take it that you are poking fun at her situation. Clarify. My concern is for your safety first and her sanity second. Can you leave her with the other Sweepers and come visit?

"Yes, the circus is coming and since you are interested in seeing the show, a visit to Sublimity very soon is necessary."

Wufei picked up one of the numerous playbills advertising the coming event. It read: '_Combination Transcontinental Circus,_ Magnificent_ Golden Menagerie, and the Cosmographic Caravan Troupe of Performers.'_ He copied that out and added his own discourse.

"Naturally, I did not make this up.I suppose these titles are meant to be taken seriously, even though in all probability they are inspirations from the productive mind of a press agent. The writer has created a unique style of writing. Oh, listen to this. It reads, '_a congestion of amusement'_ and '_a resonant tantara of merriment_'. Words just get pumped into copy like air into a balloon, tinseled, splashed, and alliterated, creating ballyhoo through a most colorful rhetoric. So, you must join me here and see the stupendous wonders under the 'big top.'

"You will come, I hope. I will contact Winner and arrange for your stay. You will meet Barton's sister. I think you will like her. She is very outspoken.

"I miss you, too.

"Yours,

"Chang Wufei."

He read over his note and found it satisfactory. While not overly sentimental, the words conveyed the necessary information and feelings he sought. He ran out to the docks, located a postal boat, and sent his letter on its merry way. He dropped in a pocket saloon for a beer and read the letter from Lieutenant Zechs Merquise.

"Chang Wufei—

"I understand Mr. Winner is mourning his loss in his room. He isn't answering his mail in any case. I question the Yuy-Maxwell residence security, since their place was broken into, so I will correspond with you and trust you will transmit any pertinent information to them."

What followed was a detail update on the bridge building activities. Wufei scanned it quickly. He smiled at the conclusion.

"I am already facing opposition. It's fantastic!"

Wufei picked up his pen and wrote, "Winner's back. Come see the circus. We can talk there."

Again, he made the trip to the dock and posted his letter for the next day's delivery, having missed the last boat out this time. Wufei drew a deep breath and thought he smelled wood smoke and something new. Something of the fall season. He felt a weight lifting from his heart. No matter what was to come, he was not facing an unknown future alone. He had comrades and a lover. He wanted so much to have a wife and achieve complete maturity. Even his family would have to be proud of his accomplishments. If they ever found out. Even if they did not, his ancestors would know.

(o)

The weather had taken an abrupt turn. Gone was the smothering summer heat. The early morning air held the crisp, sharp smells of drying leaves. Quatre and Trowa spent the day together doing nothing in particular, but managed to have a full day. They went for a long walk into the middle of the city, explored the shops, and even found a museum to walk through. It was getting a little chilly with September's arrival, but not cold enough that they needed coats. Instead, they escaped the cool weather by slipping into a cozy bakery that also served soups, sandwiches, and coffee.

Trowa and Quatre both ordered the clam chowder, which came in a bread bowl. At one point, Quatre noticed a little soup on his handsome boyfriend's chin, and reached over the table with his napkin and wiped it clean. Trowa ducked his head and smiled shyly.

"I swear my body temperature just rose three hundred degrees," Quatre admitted in a low voice. "Well, okay, I'm not sure how high it went. I don't care. I'm just so happy."

When they left the bakery, they held hands and walked in and out of the various millinery, glove, and jewelry stores on the lane. The temperature dropped in the breeze and Quatre shivered.

"I have this overwhelming urge to keep you warm," Trowa said.

To Quatre's surprise, Trowa wrapped an arm around over his shoulder while they strolled. Quatre rested his head against his shoulder and sighed before the arm returned to Trowa's side.

"Let's go home."

Quatre agreed. They made enough of a public display for one day. He could not stop himself from kissing Trowa on the lips a few times in the carriage ride through his Watergardens estate.

Once in the privacy of their home, Quatre called a servant to draw a hot bath. Time to relax. Quatre was first to get into the tub. He rested against the back of the tub and watched with amusement as Trowa climbed in, folded his long legs, and crouched down to ease himself with the greatest care into the hot water.

"You are limber as when I first met you," Quatre said.

"Juss 'bout." Trowa rested on his hands and carefully lowered his butt to rest on the bottom of the tub. "Damned hot. You have extra padding or somethin'?"

"L4 heat tolerance," Quatre told him.

He reached out and rested his hands on Trowa's shoulders. He was about to pull Trowa closer to snuggle in the tub, when his lover suddenly slid all the way down to the end of the tub and completely submerged himself in the water.

When he came back up, he turned and tossed Quatre a smile.

"Trowa!"

"Yeah?"

His wet hair plastered itself to his face; Quatre raked the bangs out of his eyes. "Come here."

Trowa slid around, pressing his back up against Quatre's chest.

"Oh! It's hard for me to describe how much I enjoy the feel of your smooth, wet body against mine. I'll just say that it was one of the best feelings in the world. Even better than the best sex I can imagine. That's right. This is better than sex."

"Well, it lasts longer," Trowa said with a chuckle.

"As we become more accustomed to one another, we'll be able to hold out longer." Quatre embraced him and closed his eyes as Trowa's head fell back to rest against his left shoulder.

Quatre trembled when his warm, sweet breath brushed his neck.

"Dis is nice," Trowa said with a sigh.

Quatre whimpered before reciprocating. "Oooh. I love you, Trowa." His embrace tightened. "I'm glad we're here right now."

"Me too, _mon ami_," Trowa said with certainty.

And for a time, nothing more was said. Not another word. The two lovers sat quietly in the tub, content to be close to each other.

Quatre concentrated on the rise and fall of Trowa's chest, the sound of his breathing, taking note of each time his firm chest heaved up and down, and prayed that Trowa would decide to stay, in his home, forever.

They rested until the water grew tepid. Quatre thought only of the last few days. At some point, the pair established that Quatre slept on the left side of the bed and Trowa took the right side. Of course, it did not really matter who slept on which side, because Quatre always wound up in the middle with his arms wrapped tightly around Trowa, who loved to be spooned. Sometimes, they slept in the nude, but just as often they didn't. It was a silent but mutual decision when they shed their clothes before bed. Of course, sleeping in the nude did not automatically lead to sex, either.

The water grew decidedly cool.

"I'm warm and safe under the covers," Quatre said, hinting that it was time to move.

He felt something special about sleeping in the nude with Trowa, their bodies pressed together and their breathing bringing each other comfort. Sensual, no doubt, but not sexual. _Like this, but warmer_. And what was better, Trowa understood, didn't he?

_Yes, he did_; Quatre knew.

"I don't always need to have sex wid you to have de feelings I get after we do have sex. Dere be times at night when I wake and rejoice that this beautiful person is sleeping wid me. Like de feeling I get from sex, but no sex has taken place. Does dat make sense?"

"Yes_." Talk to me! Talk more!_

"Dos are de time when I take _liberties _I know I shouldn't. I run my hands all over your body."

Trowa demonstrated on Quatre's legs, massaging the muscles he could reach under the water. Quatre shivered and moaned his appreciation. _Let's take this to the bedroom, hmmm, _he thought, but did not say. Trowa was talking to him, opening his heart and Quatre did not wish to interrupt this cherished moment.

"It's not dat I forgot anyt'ing 'bout you. Dat would be _impossible_. But I discover some'ting new 'bout you. A soft patch of skin I hadn't noticed befo'. A lock of hair I hadn't caressed. A different sounding yawn dan de night befo'."

Quatre shivered and sniffed. "You put me on the verge of tears when you say that! Not because I'm sad, or even because I'm happy. I mean, I am happy, but this is something else. I feel so… complete… that I don't know how to truly describe it"

"I tink I know. Right now, I'm 'fraid de only way to express w'at I feel in my heart is wid raw, gritty emotion."

"You mean the best remedy is to act on your feelings?"

"Yeah, but in de night I don't want to wake my sleeping angel, not for sex. Oh, no, dat's not de way. And not by shedding tears, eider, _mom ami._ Instead, w'at I do at night is to wrap you up in my arms and plant a kiss on your lips or cheek. Real gentle-like. Not so hard dat you wake. I like to t'ink that somewhere in your dreams, you know how I feel and w'at I'm doing. Dose kisses are for me. They're so I can look back on dose moments and have somet'ing to smile about. Somet'ing to be able to say, 'yeah, I got it out.' Widout dose precious nights, I might explode wid bottled up feelings."

On this September evening with the water chilling and the nippy, fresh air blowing through the open window, though, Quatre wanted more, and he suspected Trowa was in agreement. "Oh, Trowa—" Quatre's voice shook at another tremor passed through his body.

"I might be content to juss keeping you close and basking in de feelings," that soft voice with the Cajun accent said, "But yer turnin' blue. Let's dry and get in bed."

Quatre was levering them both out of the tub and wiping down with a towel faster than Trowa could repeat his wish. He nipped down the hall naked as a jaybird and dove onto his bed. Trowa crawled in next to Quatre and snuggled up to his chest and neck. His warm, wet tongue swiped along the sensitive curves. Quatre closed his eyes and cried out when his tongue left his neck and traveled up to his ear. He loved how Trowa sucked the small lobe into his mouth and seductively licked until Quatre could take no more stimulation.

Trowa was an animal that night. He normally took his time to make sure that Quatre felt nothing but pleasure when they became one with each other. This time, though, Trowa partook of his offering and devoured all he had to give, and then he entered him. He just dominated his body. Quatre's instant moans of pleasure assured him that he was not in pain.

"Don't…stop!" Quatre shouted, repeatedly.

Once their bodies were spent, the two lovers remained in an embrace for a long time. Before falling asleep, though, Quatre insisted that they clean up. They took their time getting clean, taking turns washing one another. Trowa was becoming used to scented soaps, he said.

That night, they slept well, but when at some point Quatre awoke and found himself in that now familiar spot snuggled close to Trowa. He sensed that Trowa was awake moments before he felt a rough hand roam up his leg to land and explore the surface of his firm abdomen.

"I'm de luckiest, damned bastard in de entire universe," Trowa whispered.

And beside him, Quatre smiled, overwhelmed with love and being loved.

End Chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Eighteen**

Heero, Wufei , Heero, Wufei (POV)

* * *

"Oh, wow!" Duo shouted. "This is gonna be amazing!"

"I take it you've never been to a circus?" Heero asked.

"You kidding? Not the places I've been. And, ah, never had the time, you know?" Duo's gaze traversed the wall-sized mural erected overnight. "Man, Trowa's one lucky man to be part of that. He's gonna let me feed the animals, did he tell ya?"

"The giraffe."

"A tiger! He said the tiger. And the lion!"

"He promised me the giraffe." Heero smiled.

"Man, this is gonna be so cool! I can't wait!"

Heero never let Duo's irrepressible excitement get to him. He had, he felt, to remain vigilant. The circus would bring crowds and strangers from other parts into Sublimity, and with them enemies out for their friend, Trowa. His gaze left off scanning the road for newcomers to appreciate what had captivated Duo's heart.

Brilliant in color and capital in design, mammoth posters spread upon walls and billboards, announcing the much-anticipated arrival of the circus and menagerie. Quatre had briefed them all on the circus' background. Apparently, the circus managers in this country had discovered advertising. By simple experimentation, taking out space in the local newspapers, and posting their announcements, they demonstrated the profit and the possibilities of advertising. "Yes," Quatre had said. "I'm impressed. The circus manager believes in the distribution of the handbill, not only locally but also for miles and miles around the place of exhibition. He spends money to advertise and he gets it back in customers. We will have to exploit that too, when the time comes."

Nothing got past Quatre, Heero thought, if it meant higher profits. Of course, the man was brilliant and rich, like the ever alert and venturesome circus manager, while most of the sleepy, township merchants and men of commercial interests were a rather slow lot and unwilling to risk their dollars in enterprise or exploitation. In fact, the average shop owner believed it was beneath his dignity to advertise, so he sat in his counting room and waited for customers to come, as his father and grandfather had done before him. The merchants were a half century behind the circus manager of the time in appreciating and appropriating the increasing methods of publicity discovered and developed by the showmen.

And the circus people were fast. Their arrival was a week away, yet, in an incredible short space of time, ringing echoes of the carpenter's hammer carried all over, and the mammoth billboards rose. The pictorial on the billboards enticed children around as thickly as "flies gather at the bung of a molasses hogshead on a wharf," as Duo put it.

Heero made a face at that image, but let it pass, like many of Duo's colorful L2-isms. There was no arguing how the murals attracted attention. Facing the many-colored display, no feature was lost to view or discussion. The most incorrigible children began a period of good behavior and model conduct upon the billing of a circus and extending up to the show's performance. All bright children read the newspapers to learn the important local details of the circus advertisement - the date of appearance, location of lot, scale of prices, opening of performances, hour of parade and route of procession. Even the smallest boy never bothered the ticket seller at the red wagon with a string of questions. He knew all the necessary information from the press or the small bills.

The A to Z (Alliance to Zodiac) Circus was coming to town! Sublimity was thrumming with excitement—Duo included.

"C'mon," Heero said, yanking Duo's braid as a last resort to getting his attention. "We are meeting Hilde at the dock."

"Wufei wonder boy is gonna be there. We'll just be in the way, believe me, he doesn't want us around. Hey, I could be clown! I do all kinds of stupid things. They just get paid for it."

"They wear makeup and silly clothes. It wouldn't suit you. Now, onward. Hilde made it clear that we were to be there when she arrived. It was important enough for her to write to me about it."

Duo ran out of argument and tugged his braid away from Heero's reach. "Ya don't catch me pulling _your_ hair."

"I don't pull your hair. I_ love_ your hair." Heero had said that aloud, with feeling, and in public. He felt very daring to do so. Apparently, so did Duo.

Duo looked over his shoulder for eavesdroppers, Heero guessed. Finding none and deciding it was safe, Duo stepped closer, met Heero's eyes, and asked in a sultry voice, "You do?"

"I tell you all the time."

Heero made a grab for the swinging rope of hair and missed when Duo skipped to the side and said, "No way! I'm far too quick."

"There's the sheriff." Heero distracted him, and gave the tail end a quick jerk.

"Hey! No fair!"

"It's fair. There are no rules, and Sheriff Trant _is_ coming this way."

The man was marching in a path to bisect theirs, trailed by a changing gathering of men and women pestering him for information. He wore a wide smile on his face. Heero thought this had to be the town's best time of year. The sheriff should be happy. The circus was an institution for the family, for young and old, a clean amusement. The best people patronized the tent shows safe with the knowledge that the entertainment would be conducted decently. In comparison, a man would find it a necessary thing for to explore in advance, to learn for himself whether it would be the proper thing to invite a woman - wife, sweetheart, or sister - to the some of the first-class theaters.

Also, money was changing hands throughout town at a blinding rate. Food, staples, building materials, straw for animals were among the essentials purchased by circus personnel. In turn, the townspeople snatched up promotional playing cards featuring the animals and clowns "for their children."

Clean fun and abundance abounded and would for the week the circus was in town. As a result, it was the delight of Sheriff Trant in the rural burgh of Sublimity to take his position near a large stand of bills, or to stroll the wide avenues and listen to the remarks of the bystanders.

As Heero and Duo neared the crowd in the man's wake, they overheard one of the barrage of questions directed at the sheriff.

"I hear that handsome young friend of our master Winner be innit. You know the boy. You should find out if it's true, sheriff!"

"I'll just hop around there and find out!"

Heero smiled, thinking that Trant was often taught his job by the citizenry.

"I see two men who would know. Mr. Yuy! Mr. Maxwell! Just the gents we are looking for!"

"Hello, sheriff." Heero greeted him first. "What do we know?"

"What _don't_ we know?" Duo said, joking and winking at the women waiting for his answer.

Heero nudged him and whispered, "Flirt."

"These folks would like to know what Mr. …er… Bloom, is it? Bloom, yes. What it is that Mr. Bloom performs in the circus? You know him. What can you tell us?"

Duo knew. "It's a secret, mostly, but I know he either throws knives or catches them. A-and other stuff, but I wouldn't wanna spoil the fun. He'll be in the night shows, he said."

Heero skewed his head in the direction of the docks. "We are meeting somebody, Sheriff."

"Gotta go!" Duo shouted and bounded away. "Later!"

Heero jogged to catch up. He did like to watch the crazy long hair twitch in time with Duo's jaunty gait. He liked to watch Duo. Like a hawk.

His prey was skipping out of reach and chattering, "…and maybe Hilde's afraid of 'Fei or she's got cold feet--"

"Or thinks she requires a lady's entourage," Heero suggested.

"W'at you say? Oh, man, like followers?"

"Or staff."

"Yeah, she'd love that, but wouldn't that be girls and not guys? Eh, I suppose if we were swooning at her feet she'd be okay with it. Anyway, I say, 'Fei doesn't need us. He's the noble swordsman, right?"

Heero barked a laugh.

"Wasn't _that_ funny."

"I was reminded of something Chang said." Heero could not help the heat creeping up his neck, or hide it from Duo.

"Whoa, 'Ro. Ya can't leave me hanging here."

No. Heero couldn't. "Chang wouldn't let me go out at night on my own. He sleeps with one eye open, I discovered."

"Oh, is this about your nocturnal sex training?" Duo asked. His eyes gleamed with delight.

Heero cleared his throat. "Ah, yeah. I asked him how he learned what to do with a woman, thinking that would shut him up."

"It _didn't?"_

"No. He actually told me."

"No, shit! What did he say?"

"He said his grandfather told him a story comparing the man to his sword and the woman to the sword's sheath. Um, made for each other, perfect fit, and all."

"God, that's so lameass. Good thing Hilde has a better education."

"And he's a quick study," Heero added.

"So what did you tell him?"

"I said I needed some visual instruction or I'd be cutting you a new one in a dual."

Duo brayed like a donkey, he laughed so hard.

"It shut up Chang and he let me go; alone, I might add, even though he followed me to ensure my safety." Heero sobered Duo up with his next observation. "I see Hilde on the Sweepers boat. It's just landing and she has another girl with her. She have any relatives that you know of?"

"Huh? No."

Aboard the flatboat, Heero could see Hilde leaned against a tower of crates, axe safely belted at her side, her short-cropped black hair flying at a rakish angle in the brisk wind. Beside her, about half a head taller, stood a young woman dressed as a native in war paint and a pale leather tunic and skirt, but fair skinned and with short blond hair cut in the same style as Hilde's.

"Who the hell is that?"

(o)

Wufei Chang mustered his most ferocious look. He clapped his eyebrows together and gave both women a thunderous stare. Rain clouds gathered, ice shards spit, lightning bolted—he frowned, but at himself this time. That didn't sound right. Lightning ripping, stabbing, hurtling…! He was writing a book and he meant it to be terrifying. A lot of heavy weather in it.

Hilde weathered the storm and broke out in a sunny smile. "Oh, honey, don't be that way. It'll all work out. You'll see. She's a changed girl now that she's married to that giant hunk of a half-breed about to ring your neck so smile and take your hand off that sword handle real easy like, okay, sweetie-pie?"

"I do not like this idea." Wufei said this stonily and looked as if he had all the malleable warmth of the sword he had returned to scabbard suspended from his belt. He did not want to be the one to explain the situation to Heero and Duo, but the hell if he'd allow his woman to make a fool of herself alone.

"Hey! Who's the cute chick with your babe, 'Fei?" Duo shouted.

"We should go inside. Your place would be preferable." Wufei locked eyes with Yuy. "Private and out of the way."

Thankfully, Heero asked him no questions and curtailed his boyfriend's with some sort of magical charm. The men boxed in the two women and marched homeward, Duo in the lead and Heero and the giant half-native bringing up the rear.

After the predictable chaos an arrival at the Yuy-Maxwell residence seemed to inspire, the stranger's identity was revealed.

"Midi!" Duo fell into his L2 slang and unleashed a string of profanity causing his lover to grimace.

"Duo, out." Heero ordered. "Don't let that savage out of your sight.

Duo glowered from beneath his thatch of bangs a second then smirked. "Gotcha!"

Wufei did not understand the mysterious means by which the two men communicated, but it was effective and he was grateful to have only Yuy to face with this new situation.

"Why, yes. This is Midi Une and she is going to join the circus under Catherine's tutelage as stunt rider Ivy Shruggs." Hilde beamed with wicked pride. "And her big, bad brave of a husband will be with her all the time. He's one of the circus's bareback riders. Cathy sent him down the night before last and the two hit it off like firecrackers at a Chinese festival, not that I've been to L5, but ah've heard stories." She smiled saucily up at Wufei and bat her long, dark eyelashes. "It was your letter getting me all fired up to see the circus that put me to mind to write to Trowclair's dear sister. You're right about us getting along, too. I can't wait to meet her."

"You believe Trowa and that woman, Catherine, are related?" Heero asked. He was standing at the window watching the native man conduct a perimeter check of his property with Duo nipping at his heals like a territorial dog. Yuy seemed to approve of the procedure and their behavior. "She calls Triton Bloom."

"Of course they are. Thick as thieves. She dotes on him and adores his pretty boyfriend. Naturally, Mr. Winner is wealthy, but he's a doll. An absolute doll. Those are her words. She writes beautifully."

"Hn. And… Ivy," Heero addressed the girl with his usual directness. "You are willing to go through with this charade?" Heero asked.

"Yes. It's not like I want to be working for Dekim Barton's gang!"

"You did though. He's your father."

"No, he's not! He stole me away from my family juss like Trowa. Trowa got away, twice! I juss wanted Trowa to take me with him. I wanted my freedom, too."

"You were willing to destroy Trowa's life when he didn't cooperate. Who was paying you for that? Weren't you working for Dekim then, too?"

"I really thought Trowa would give in. Sogran was pressuring me."

"He works for Dekim?"

"Not directly. Lots of folks are bribed to give up information to Dekim. He's a dangerous man with a long reach."

"And you are joining the circus and running away?"

"Sure am. I got me a strong man, new name, job, hairdo. Great Eagle Scruggs is sworn to protect me, if'n Dekim ever discovers who ah am."

"It won't be through any of us," Wufei assured her. "We are men of honor, not that you've had any experience with men of our ilk."

Duo and Great Eagle entered the house laughing like old friends and comparing braids. Duo's was longer and thicker. "And you know what they say? As grows a man's braid, so grows his dick!"

This the two men thought was hilarious. So did Heero. Wufei, whose ponytail in back was far shorter than all but Heero's shorn hair thought the statement was "Ridiculous and inappropriate in the present company."

"Oh, honey! That's all right. You are in fine standing with Duo. Can't say anything about his steamy-looking boyfriend, though."

Great Eagle looked from Heero to Duo and back, and then broke into a grin. Wufei thought the big man looked far less foreboding inside the house, hiding a bronzed chest with a checkered shirt and the bright feathers woven into his hair ties more frazzled than not. The grin widened and Wufei just knew the man was going to say something to ruffle Duo's metaphorical peacock feathers, and he wasn't wrong.

"It's all wasted, little man with the long braid, 'cause yer the squaw. It sure ain't that wily-eyed river rat."

Duo squinted. "Huh? What'sa _squaw_?"

Heero was smiling.

"'Ro? You _know_? Tell me. Did he just insult me? Huh? 'Cause if he did, I wanna fight. Mano y mano. Outside. Right now. He **did** insult me, didn't he? Hey! You wanna piece of me?"

Heero quietly excused himself and pushed Duo into their bedroom, and Wufei quietly led the others to the front door. "We shall see ourselves out."

Wufei wondered how Heero was going to contain Duo for the rest of the week and curtail his excitement when the circus actually arrived. He couldn't wear him out with sex every day, could he? Could he?

(o)

The circus parade, symbolic of the events within the large, white tents, also served as a dynamic advertisement. The caravans halted on the outskirts of town to wash the wagons, don parade costumes, and bedeck the horses and equipment with fancy trappings. The parade evolved into an immense processional, a moving pageant along the main street of Sublimity, an immense show in itself, always proportionately indicative of the attractions inside the tents.

Duo danced from foot to foot. There was no settling him down, so Heero sacrificed Wufei's patience, and just allowed Duo to dance and shout. Heero had other worries weighing on his mind. With Midi in town again, whether any of Dekim Barton's people knew it or not, Heero remained on lookout, his nerves on edge, primed for action. He scanned the crowds for signs of thugs, Sogran in particular. Chang's snorts and gripes he overlooked. Duo's antics he ignored.

The march of a circus company through the land with its host of people and the moving of baggage vans from town to town was similar to the progress of an army. No conqueror ever entered a city half so welcome, though, as the glittering pageant. The sparkling caravans threaded through the main street of Sublimity en-route to the market grounds. Inspiring strains of brassy, martial music roused the sleepiest occupants of the shops to "come and see!"

A six-horse hitch with a Liberty bandwagon led the parade. The brass band atop the wagon blared a rousing tune, ratcheting up the excitement. A two horse buggy carrying the ringmaster at the reins was close behind and flagged by five trick riders with red, yellow, and blue banners. Next came the advertiser, who traveled on horseback and kept his stock of printing in two saddlebags. He flung bills into the crowd along the way with a wave and flourish of ruffled and sequined sleeves.

"Gotta get me one of those!" Duo announced and vanished.

He returned flashing his prize. Heero gave him and the paper jammed into his face a moment's attention. The bill was a square quarter-sheet, illuminated by two cuts at the head, one depicting an equestrian act, the other a performer balancing his body above an overturned chair, his hands clasping a rung thereof.

"It says to fill out the back with your name and address and enter this in the raffle. You could win a real prize."

Duo was delighted. "I'll get me more. I'll be sure to win something! Ya hooo!" he crowed before disappearing again.

The crowd roared when the elaborately carved pageant wagons passed with their elegantly caparisoned horses, all plumed and bejeweled in gleaming harnesses. Dancing, skipping, and prancing about were the ring performers in sparkling costumes, heralding past stars and fresh new faces. Some performers in the company were seated and costumed according to their roles, like a popular clown police patrol wagon; a familiar singer of comic songs upon an elephant with howdah; two camels with mysterious riders in flowing L4 robes; a daring bareback rider on a white horse; and a midget clown riding a decorated donkey.

"Where did that damnable friend of yours get off to?" Chang grumbled in Heero's ear.

"Down there. Trowa's with the animals and so's Duo."

Ten elephants pulled wagons loaded with everything from animal to tents, amazing onlookers, who, outside of the circus, had never before seen such massive creatures. Sturdy, richly-blooded horses snorted and reared on the command of their bold riders, appearing untamed and dangerous.

"I see Giant Eagle with Ivy and Catherine. They are on horseback." Wufei squinted and shaded his eyes with a hand.

The ooh's and ah's of the crowd gathered energy with the rising excitement. The menagerie rolled by permitting sneak peeks at the exotic animals, including a giraffe peering back from an opening in the roof of its ornately carved and gilded cage.

"Oh, I see Trowa. He is walking a fully-grown male lion. I am impressed. Remind me, Yuy, not to insult him again in the near future."

"Oh, I will."

"What is Duo doing?" Hilde asked. "I can't make it out. Hey, get that hat outta my way!"

"If he's not careful he'll be cat food."

Heero sprinted from his position on high ground, to the edge of street just as the audience gasped at something new in the procession-- walking along on chain leashes held in the firm grasp of handlers, were a Bengal tiger and a snarling lion. He grabbed Duo by his shoulders and manhandled him away from the gaping jaws. Trowa snapped his whip and yanked on the chain, restraining his big cat. He kept the cat in line and marched on, smiling in his friends' direction.

"Hot damn! That looks soooo cool! I wanna do that! I wanna join the circus!" Duo hollered.

"You would," Heero said.

Other animals trailed by: cheetahs, monkeys, camels, zebras, midget burros, deer, ponies, ostriches, a cinnamon bear, llamas, tropical birds, a woolly yak and miniature African elephants. The end of the procession featured a horse-drawn Two Jester calliope playing a lively tune and leaving the spectators tapping their toes.

The parade circled the square five times then settled on the market grounds, where overnight a tent city would magically appear. Overall, it was a tantalizing preview of the show to come. Duo was enchanted. It was all Heero could do to drag him to a street vendor and buy something to eat. All Duo wanted to do was watch the tent city rise.

Somewhere, Heero was certain, Dekim Barton was out there looking for Trowa, and soon to be looking for Midi. He was conspiring with the governor to build steam engine run boats, maybe vehicles that could run on land, from which mass killing machines so far unknown to man could be constructed. The evil had to be stopped, and Heero was afraid that if he wasn't vigilant, that something might get past him. It was going to be a long week, Heero thought, and he was already weary.

(o)

In many ways, the scene was as old as the circus itself. Dozens of people young and old gathered along the Market Green to take in the traditional raising of the big top. The field crawled with activity from the moment the caravans pulled onto the green. Workers, most of whom had started the day with the rising sun, pounded heavy wooden stakes, unrolled the massive, 300-foot long tents and threw hay to the hungry animals in the menagerie. They carried side poles to lock them into position as the gigantic new center pole was raised. The canvas was put up by the band and performers. No one was idle.

Barked orders, grunts and groans, the smell of burning fuel oil and wood blended with that of abundant animal droppings hung in the air. The A to Z (Alliance to Zodiac) circus workers buzzed between and around their trailers, scrambling to set the giant stage for the show the next day.

Wufei took Hilde aside to observe the operations and enjoy a private stroll. _Five minutes of this should satisfy anyone_, he hoped. He recognized the faces of every boy and girl he saw-- students of his all. Also threading through the scene were the reporters from the local paper. For this spectacular of an event, the paper paid temporary writers _pro rata_. Among the eager, hungry young men and women hoping to earn an extra buck or two, was Dorothy Catalonia.

"I know her," Wufei said, pointing out the laundress to Hilde. "It appears she was clever enough to nab the circus advertiser. She'll have a good story to sell if she just copies everything he has to say. That man knows how to sell his circus." _Now, let's go._

"Shush, honey. I want to hear what's being said," Hilde said.

_Shush? _

"… and the principal tent holds the main circus, the secondary tent being reserved for the menagerie, and the third for the museum of living and inanimate curiosities and the skill games. Everything to guarantee a fun time and the success of the great showman's latest venture," the ad man said.

Spectators moved as close as possible to where the action was taking place and with them were the reluctant Wufei, excited Hilde and the determined Dorothy. They were treated to an inside look at the show, from Isla the Elephant pulling up 38-foot tent posts, to a sneak peek at the petting zoo, with the gentle llama, deer, and the midget burros.

Wufei was distracted, and not by the animals, the raunchy smells, or anything "circus." In the grand schemes of things, his thoughts were small, but of the utmost importance to him. His life was teetering on a sword's edge. His fate in the balance. And Hilde was unknowingly holding the pummel. A flick of her wrist and he was a goner.

"The baby horseys are sooo adorable," screeched Lizzy Howard, 8, who watched the action with her mom, Sarah, and sister Anna, 6, and frazzled Wufei's nerves further.

"Mom, please can we come see the very first show tomorrow, please, please, please," Anna said, falling to her knees and thrusting her skinny arms and clasped hands over her head.

"Of course your mother will take you. Here's the money to cover your admittance, now move on," Wufei snapped.

The raising of the big top also brought out the elders. In droves. _See the tent go up. Fascinating. Now, let's go!_ Wufei slicked back a strand of hair out of his eyes, tucking it behind an ear. His fingers trembled. That irritated him, because he hated acting as excited as Duo. He could control himself. He had training. He was an adult. He had to get what he wanted to say out of his system before he started to sweat. He opened his mouth, hoping he could entice Hilde away from the tent city, when a loud-mouthed woman stepped between them from behind in order to reach Dorothy.

"This is terribly exciting. I just look at them putting this whole thing together and marvel at the teamwork," Marge Hammond offered to Dorothy, who documented each earth-shattering comment for the paper as quickly as her fingers could write.

Wufei moved around to catch Hilde from the other side, when the loud woman's even louder, taller, and pushier husband blocked his progress. "These folks should be commended for perpetuating a Sanc tradition," Samuel Hammond said. "A to Z clings to its image of traditional, family-oriented entertainment. It's got its three rings, outdoor tent and ringmaster - complete with tuxedo and tails. Real professionals they are."

Wufei fussed with another lank of hair, which had sought freedom from the punishingly tight ponytail as his head whipped around, seeking an escape route. He spied Merquise and Winner. Hilde had confided to him that she did not like _Colonel _Zechs Merquise. Too "hoity-toity." Now, a plan coalesced in his fragmented mind.

Wufei thought about Dorothy and how she had been a friend of Merquise. It was unjust how her family had been broken to the benefit of Treize Khushrenadas, Noins, and Merquises of this world. If Merquise had an honorable bone in his body, he would want to put it all to rights. And if he could advise him of the situation, introduce him to the unfortunate woman, break up the fascinating entertainment, possibly he could, in turn, drag his own woman away and…

He shuddered. He could not think the dreaded word without his body reacting violently.

_Propose. _

First, though, he must get the men's attention. _But how?_

The ad man beamed at Dorothy and the loud couple with pleasure. "That is right. A to Z is still a family affair - from the owners to the performers to me myself. Why, my father and grandfather both worked in the business. We have trapeze artists who can trace their families' involvement in circuses to L3 in the 1700s. Personally, I think this is the most wonderful job in the world," he said. "Every time I go on the road, I tell my family that I'm off to play circus."

"And your tour of duty is almost complete, is it not?" Dorothy prompted the circus man.

"You are so correct, young lady. In Sanc Kingdom tradition, the circus runs a forty-six week season—24 weeks in the north. When the circus comes to Sublimity, it is nearing the last stop of its tour. We shall over-winter in the more congenial clime of the 'Sunny South.' "

Wufei, too inhibited to make a scene on purpose, had lost sight of Merquise and contact with his Hilde. _If only Maxwell were here_, he mused. He mentally slapped himself the next instant. _How absurd!_ He was perfectly capable of doing this himself. He could devise plan as well as Winner and act on that plan as well as Maxwell.

And then he would… that word again.

_Propose._

He made a note of where Hilde stood, entranced by the chatter and activity, and then strode in the direction he last had seen His two blonde, high-born friends, Merquise and Winner. If his facts were correct and Colonel Merquise was a man of honor, then he could help a woman wronged and himself in one seamless and efficient move.

He kept the greeting brief and got right to the point. "I believe you know a young woman, Dorothy Catalonia. Her married name I don't recollect, but research tells me you grew up together."

"She was once my step-sister's best friend. Only friend." Zechs nodded slowly, regally even. "I knew her in Sanc Royal as children. We haven't kept in touch."

"Come with me then, while I bring you up to date." Wufei sketched her recent fall from society, rash marriage, and job as a laundress.

"Her father built a bridge," Winner smoothly put in. "Much like what you are intending to do now."

Zechs cleared his throat and straightened his already ladder-back-straight shoulders. Wufei knew the man was uncomfortable no matter how well he hid it with his cool demeanor and cultured mannerisms.

"Interesting because Catalonia was involved in overland trade. You knew the man." Wufei did not ask.

"I served under his brother, who was Dorothy's uncle, at one time," Zechs replied.

"So did Treize Khushrenada," Wufei reminded him.

"Yes, we had that in common. Chang, what is it you want me say?"

"Dorothy Catalonia's father attempted to build a bridge over the Rogue River, which, if roadways connecting to it were improved, would have encouraged overland freight. Large boats would be restricted from the river to the detriment of the river traders. Industry would have developed differently, is my point," Wufei said, noting Merquise's shifting eyes.

"But the bridge was destroyed, and the Catalonia family ruined, the girl's father and mother died soon after. I wonder, was it your family that destroyed that bridge?"

"I was only a child at the time. I am sure the man had many enemies. Odin Lowe, Dekim Barton, both would have sought an end to a bridge-building project."

"Oh, they may have executed the damage, but you know who placed the orders."

Zechs' eyes slid to gaze upon the horizon. "Not my family."

"I think that the Noin's kin most immediately benefited from the destruction of the bridge and ruined the Catalonia family. And this was not just because of what the bridge might do to ruin their business, but for more personal reasons. By ruining the Catalonia family financially, it also spoiled their rise to power. It is Miss Lucrezia Noin who accompanies you socially, not Dorothy Catalonia."

Merquise drew his pale eyebrows into a frown beneath his long fringe of matching hair. "You know a lot about our history, for one so new to the area."

"That's just scratching the surface," Wufei replied. He lowered his voice as they neared the crowd. "Dorothy's grandfather is Duke Dermail, and Duke Dermail's youngest sister was Khushrenada's mother. Later, both you and Khushrenada served together. Sounds like a tight relationship amongst the three of you, Merquise, Khushrenada, and Miss Catalonia, in Sanc Royal."

"We were close, yes."

"Would you know why the general's brother built the bridge if it was so unpopular?"

"I would assume to promote overland freight business, as you pointed out."

Wufei nodded curtly. "Interesting, though, with his brother ruined and his family shamed, the General resigned his commission a few years later and retired. And when the smoke cleared, a young Khushrenada ended up richer than General Catalonia and in a better position to be Duke Dermail's highest level assistant."

"And Treize wants to buy a Dukedom and take over," Zechs murmured. "Poor Dorothy. She didn't deserve to end up a laundress."

"I agree," Winner commented.

"It appears that she is attempting to branch out, doing interviews for the paper." Wufei stepped nearer to Hilde and pointed out Dorothy. She was still speaking with the circus advertising man.

"What a waste of a keen mind," Zechs said.

"My thoughts precisely. She must hate Khushrenada," Wufei offered. "Do you think you can find a role for her in your plans, Winner? Merquise?"

"Yes." They both agreed upon that.

Wufei could overhear Dorothy ask a couple insightful questions, but was not interested in hearing the circus man's illuminating replies. He had a reason to interrupt the proceedings, so Wufei waited for a place to cut them off. Merquise beat him to it.

"Is there anything more you'd like everyone to know first thing tomorrow morning when they read their morning paper, sir?" Dorothy asked.

"There will be performances given once in the early in the afternoon with a price of admission of thirteen cents and a more deluxe evening show version for an additional fee of 25 cents. Now, just compare that to your hotel rates at thirty-seven and a half cents a day and that of a 'Choice Principal' two-for-a-cent, and good cigars they were, too!"

"I think everyone will agree your charges are very reasonable if they get their money's worth."

"And they will, I promise. They will get the show of a lifetime."

Merquise strode into the crowd, which parted like the Red Sea for Moses. "Dorothy!"

"Milliardo?" The woman appeared dreadfully embarrassed at her attire and smoothed the rough linen dress, while at the same time smiling with the joy of seeing a long lost friend.

"Seen enough?" Wufei asked Hilde. "I think the interview is over for a while. They have some catching up to do and I have something to show... no... to… to say to you."

"Oh! I just love surprises."

He hoped she would like this one.

He hoped it would not be too unexpected.

He hoped, with a deep quaking sigh, that she said "yes."

He took Hilde's arm and wrapped it about his. Together they ambled past the green and all its frenzied activity. Wufei selected a particular dirt walk, one which trailed out along one of the many small streams that trickled through the Watergardens estate and town to drain finally into the Rogue River.

The last of the black raspberries dropped into the water where Wufei and Hilde settled in the shade. They sat side-by-side. Overhead the mummified little uneaten fruits of the rank-growing purple mulberry trees dangled in the wind. The surfeit and fecundity of summer had come to an end.

"This is nice. I just love the autumn, don't you? Dry. All that rain is gone for a while and it's still warm enough to get out and enjoy nature. This is a lovely spot, Wufei. Ah am so touched you thought to share it with me."

He broke out into a sweat and blanched. _I shall not go into shock_, he ordered himself.

"Wufei, are you feeling okay? You look unwell."

His stomached twisted and sucked in on itself, becoming roughly the size of a walnut. No, a mummy-fruit. It didn't feel right. Nor did his tongue. He wondered why he had a mouthful of cotton balls.

"Lady Schbeiker," he rasped. "I want to ask—" He might have, but he gagged on his disobedient tongue, instead.

"Oh, my, Lord! You are ill." Hilde drew him onto her lap and pressed his head to her bosom. "Now stretch out and I'll apply light massage to your temples. Breathe deeply. Relax."

He maintained that position for several minutes.

"I…am feeling… improved. I believe… I can sit up now." He tried and succeeded in maintaining a living blood pressure long enough to right himself part way.

"You work so hard, honey. You need to relax. Let your hair down." Hilde pulled off the narrow, black binding, garroting the black rope of hair at the nape of his neck. "Your hair is so silky," she crooned while raking her fingers through the strands. "Feel nice?"

"Yes."

"Now, you wanted to ask me something. You remember?"

"Yes."

"And--?"

He wanted to begin with a careful, orderly arrangement of all his strong points, which would lead, logically, to his plans for improvement, how he would become a lawyer and move to her town, and then, and only then, would he propose marriage. It was so designed that she could find no fault, no reason to resist. He had practiced the speech. He had memorized it, inscribing each syllable into his brain so that the very intonation, every vocal inflection, was perfect.

He could not remember a single damned word.

"I love you. Will you marry me?" he blurted out in place of his other speech.

"Now, wasn't that the sweetest little proposal ever? Of course I will, sugar. Tonight? I'm not sure I can wait a minute longer. Let's go find Duo. He can conduct it!"

And then Wufei passed out.

End Chapter 18


	19. Chapter 19

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Nineteen**

Heero's (POV)

A/N: Thank you, water goddesses, Snowdragonct and Waterlilylf, for your invaluable encouragement and splendid suggestions, and Maskelle for a line so funny Heero had to use it on the last page.

Warning: This is long...

* * *

_Was that him?! Sogran?_

Heero was understandably edgy. He disliked crowded places, noise, potential killers stalking his friends-- those sorts of things. Not that anyone noticed or cared about his state of mind.

His irrepressible boyfriend didn't-- but one look at Duo, and Heero forgave him. Deep down inside, Heero was pleased that Duo could salvage any little bit of his childhood. Hilde and Chang were not paying attention to anything but one another, and as far as Heero was concerned, had no excuse not to conducting perimeter checks and scanning for undesirables, as he was doing. Heero scowled past Duo, his eyes landing on Hilde to Duo's right. Making no lasting impression on her, he moved on to a jubilant Wufei, glaring with enough intensity to burn a hole through Chang's head-- right between the eyes.

Wufei's stupid expression did not waver. Wufei had eyes only for his Hilde. Heero did not think he was being observant enough and he hoped the man was not too distracted to honor his end-of-the-aisle-seat duty, should an emergency occur. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more Heero wanted to change seats. Duo would have to move, too. They would all have to move.

Heero nearly jumped to his feet and began the musical chair game, but then he thought he should put more faith in his friends. Wufei had been searching the river area for the past few hours-- for suspects, Heero believed-- and called them all to a meeting with Sheriff Trant after the show. That meant Chang was on top of things and he should not question Chang's conscientiousness or focus on his duty. Regardless of how preoccupied the man appeared to be now. And happy.

_Let them be happy._

Heero scanned the audience for faces both familiar and undesirable. He spotted Zechs Merquise with Dorothy Catalonia. Now, that was unexpected. Then, Winner appeared from behind a tent flap, joined them, and then pointed up to the seating occupied by Heero and company. That seemed friendly enough. Winner must have been expecting their meeting. That was all right, then. Heero trusted Quatre, and, satisfied that all was well with Merquise and Catalonia, concentrated on a different part of the tent.

The cacophony of noise was enough to drive Heero from the show. There was the noisy man seated behind him narrating the show for everyone's benefit.

"You never done seen Splinter the Clown before? Why, he is a sight worth seeing. He's built on the plan of a clothespin and is as graceful as a turkey walking on a hot gridiron. His arms flap in the spring gale and he throws his brush with the skill of a veteran. Thar he is! See if'n I'm not cor-aket!"

There was the music. The united bands now consisted of a hurdy-gurdy, a violin, and a bass drum along with the dazzling brass band. This unlikely ensemble struck up a particularly vivacious song and Heero winced.

_How was he to concentrate in a place like this?_

He strapped down his thoughts and contained his reflexes, which threatened to kill every loud noisemaker he could. His observations concentrated on the audience, but enlarged occasionally to include the performances. The three rings were alive with action, the death defying acts packing a thrill, the spectacle breathtaking, if Duo's shouts were any indication.

"Trowa used to do the trapeze stunts, but Cathy wouldn't let him go on without practice. Look at that!"

One of the features of the performance was a stilt dance, six or eight participating therein. Acrobats, wirewalkers, and singing clowns appeared in the program.

"I can feel the wind in my hair!" Duo cried out. "God, I wanna do that!"

"And I can still smell the elephants from the fifteenth row," Heero noted.

Duo scrunched up his face. "You are no fun. Lookit that guy riding a unicycle on a tightrope! Yuh think I could do that?"

"Yes." Heero met Duo's smiling face. "You can do anything."

"You betcha!" Duo flashed him a smile and returned to his show.

Heero maintained his diligent surveillance. He and his friends filled the first row of the second tier of seating. A railing and narrow walkway separated them from the rows of seating below. Another tier rose above and behind them. Duo popped out of his seat and leaned on the railing giving Heero a face full of his wiggling rear end.

"The juggler's a guy named Thompson. He's a good friend of Cathy's if you know what I mean? Look at him with the rings!"

"It's a familiar feat of magicians," Heero said disinterested. Illusionists held no mystery to him.

"You're not impressed?" Duo's voice held the same marvel it had when he described the acts.

"No." Heero watched as Winner skipped up the shaky steps to their row.

"I see Trowa." Duo caught Winner's eye and the blond scooted in-between him and Hilde. Hilde and Wufei contested nothing. They simply made room.

"That's Tr—Triton!" Winner corrected him. He leaned beside Duo shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, nearly cheek to cheek. Heero sighed at the shapely view.

"Yeah, Triiiiton."

Since this was the pricier evening show, the audience was treated to an exhibition of rope spinning, knife throwing, and whip manipulation, featuring Triton Bloom. Duo was captivated by the act, giving Winner someone with whom to gush over "Triton."

"He just sparkles in emeralds," Winner sighed as any boy might over his crush.

"Damn, he's good," Duo growled.

"I don't think he should wear those tight pants, do you?"

"Quat, they all do. Look at him with the knives! Man, I can do that! I could learn all the rest. That's just so damned cool!"

"It really shows off his assets too well."

Duo bumped hips with the gushing blonde-haired man. "Don't complain."

"Was I?"

Heero tore his eyes off the cute tushes and continued his observation. "Tushes," he huffed in a low voice. "Duo's L2 slang is rubbing off on me."

Heero knew he was not the only armed man under the big top. It was common for shop owners, dockworkers, and the river runners to carry some form of firearm. Finding the man, or men, with evil intentions was turning out to be problematic. He had already systematically eliminated most of the crowd, because he recognized them. Intermingled with the women, children, and other innocent citizens of Sublimity were visitors from the surrounding area—those Heero held most suspect. He had his eyes on four rough-looking men, and then the show changed.

All three rings converted to equestrian acts, trick and fancy riding and drill formations. Some of the feats grabbed Heero's attention. Ivy Scruggs jumped through double balloons. She accomplished the feat successfully and alighted upon her cream-colored horse without difficulty. She appeared to fit in well.

A small but powerful Arabian ridden bareback by Great Eagle circled around, and picked up speed as the native let out a war whoop. The man leaped over a dining table set with crockery and glassware, while the horse raced under, and then he landed solidly on the horse's back whooping it up some more.

Another bareback rider circled and set props for the others on a buckskin mare; a sorrel circled with a boy doing back flips and handstands on its back; and a pony with a clown act put on a show-- all which disinterested Heero.

_Sogran._

He was certain the man had just entered the big top. Armed. Sogran climbed to an upper tier and Heero rose to his feet.

"Where you goin', 'Ro?"

"Sogran at 3 o'clock."

Duo passed word down the line, and Quatre burst out with "I'll warn Tro- Triton!"

Triton in a green, gold, and white harlequin clown costume and Catherine in a feminine, skirted version rode in on matching trick horses, both skewbald mares with giant splotches of brown on white.

Heero and Wufei left their seats, climbing for better sight advantages. Duo chased Quatre down to the ring.

Catherine Bloom danced the tightrope on her horse.

Heero signaled Wufei, pointing out Sogran and his four other "watch spots." Wufei nodded and moved, spreading apart from Heero while angling close to two men. Heero did not see his sword, but knew his friend was armed and deadly nonetheless.

Heero moved into a corner from where he could take out Sogran and three others, if necessary. Hilde, not one to be left out of the fun, trailed after Duo as he disappeared through a slit in the canvas.

Triton Bloom played clown, appearing in "Metamorphose of the Sack." In this act, Trowa climbed into a sack and, after by-play between the clown and the ringmaster resulting in a wager, rode three times around the ring, and, freeing himself from the bag, appeared in skirts.

Great Eagle, paired with the new Ivy, rode bareback and three clowns scrambled into the ring. One golden-haired clown flopped into the path of the skewbald horse, sending the skirted harlequin clown into a somersault over the horse's head. Catherine and her horse dismounted the tightrope safely.

Heero watched Wufei move behind Sogran as the man lifted a rifle to his shoulder. Light glimmered off another gun, visible up and to his left—another one of Heero's shifty suspects was up to no good. Wufei would not be able to get to both of them. Heero calculated the distance and decided he could make the shot, but he would have to be undeviatingly on target, or hit an innocent. One of his other "suspects" had drunk himself to sleep, leaving Heero to keep track of the movements of only two more.

A flicker of braid drew his attention back to the ring. "Duo!" _What had possessed the man to interrupt the act in the ring and dress up like that?_

There wasDuo, and another clown Heero identified as Hilde, decked out in giant hats and holsters with a pair of six-shooters at their hips. Light from the hundreds of overhead oil lamps reflected off the huge metal buckle at the crown of Duo's hat. He just sparkled. The third clown chattering to Triton while doing the tango had to be Winner, Heero decided. _What were they doing?_

Heero twisted his head around just in time to catch the glint of metal in the tier above. One of his probable hit men aimed into the ring below. Heero knew he couldn't make that shot, not with so many people in the way. He continued to change positions, checking the ring and the crowd, and wondered where the last man had gone.

All eyes were on the crazy goings-on in the circus ring, where a somersault mania moved in a chain reaction among the performers. Great Eagle somersaulted off a table blind-folded and hands-tied. By the time his feet hit the ground, Hilde had him in full alarm mode. Dancing, untying, and warning him of the lurking danger in the crowd. He sprang to action to intercept the ivory mare and Ivy Scruggs. Ivy concluded her act with a wonderful back somersault off her horse and into her husband's waiting arms, while her horse continued circling the ring at full speed.

An exuberant cheer rose from the crowd, and Heero saw his opportunity.

Great Eagle kept moving, rolling her to the ground and behind a decorative barrel when the first bullet rang out. Heero had taken too long!

Heero aimed, fired, and watched the first shooter fall. Without error. Without pausing to watch the man fall, Heero spun on a heel, establishing his other suspects' positions. Wufei had Sogran disabled; at least, Heero hoped so as he watched Wufei bounding toward another man with a rifle-- the missing man! Sogran was nowhere in sight.

Just as Heero started to sweat and punish himself with "How did that one get past me!?" he heard the first shrieks from the audience and then gun shots from below. _Not rifle shot_, he determined in an instant, and disregarded the chaos in the circus ring in favor of tracking the glint of light off a rifle barrel above to its handler. Heero shot over an empty seat and dashed up and over ten rows, closer to where he'd last seen the gunman.

More shots, and then Duo's voice rang out over the noise of his pistols. "I'm a gittin' me some horseflesh even if I's gots to turn to thievree!"

Duo sent off a few more shots into the air, missing the last acrobat to leave his post, and grinning like a fool. Hilde paired up back-to-back with Catherine and blasted off more shots.

"Yer won't git past me, you li'l varmit!"

The corner of Heero's lips turned up. They were providing cover and a diversion. _They couldn't have planned it this well!_ But then, Winner probably gave them the idea on his way to the ring. _The ring!_ He cast one more look over the ring, and determined that Trowa and Quatre had vanished. When he looked back into the crowd, his target had moved. "Damn!"

He heard a shot from far off behind him and a muffled shout. Without taking his attention off the moving target slinked into the shadows of another man. "Don't move," he warned a woman at his elbow.

"Oh, Harold! We're part of the act!"

Harold was not so sure, from the terrified look on his face, and he wisely held his wife still.

"Duck," Heero barked and seconds later, blew the rifle out of the other man's hands.

The crowd cheered "Whatta shot!"

Heero gathered the free rifle before it had clattered to the next tier. He heard Duo shout and the crowd roar with laughter, but there were no more pistol shots.

"Jail's too good for the likes of you!" Hilde yelled.

"Nooooooooo!" Duo's wail trailed off, muffled as Hilde dragged him out of the ring in bogus chains.

The gunman Heero had aimed for was in shock and holding his hands under his arms. Heero could not tell if he was injured or not, so he hefted him off the ground and then threw the man over his shoulder. When he stood to survey the damage, the horses had been cleared form the rings and performers were preparing for what the ringmaster called "The Spectacular."

_As if this show hadn't been sufficient grand finale,_ Heero huffed to himself!

He maneuvered his load down the steps, people parting politely and congratulating him on his showmanship as he passed. He wondered, _what they would think when they discovered the truth and understood how dangerous the situation had been?_

By the time Heero reached the floor of the big top, Sheriff Trant showed his face with a couple of his boys lurking outside the open tent flap. Heero noticed Quatre's hair shining in the glow of a lamp light and a glittering, green garment in his hands. At his side, stood Trowa, aiding Wufei as he hauled a limp Sogran out into the night air.

"He's injured," Wufei said to Trant. "Nothing serious. None of them."

Well, one, Heero amended. He knew he had aimed-to-kill that first man. Dropping the stunned man into the arms of one of Trant's deputies freed him up to go and retrieve the man he was certain he had killed. He figured he could find the downed man faster, and so nudged one of the deputies to get his attention. "There's another I'll get," Heero said then tossed over his shoulder, "Don't bother helping."

Trowa caught up to him. "I'm obliged, agin."

Heero shrugged. "I'd expected this all day."

"Yeah, well dere's a few less gunmen after me."

Heero stopped mid stride. "I always found that friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate."

Trowa chuckled softly. "Don't go too far, Yuy."

"I won't." Heero returned the smile, "Ringmaster's looking your way." "Yep, de show must go on." Trowa shoved the giant hat into Heero's arms. "Dis is fo' Duo. He can keep it."

"Thanks." Heero's face gave away how much he'd like to leave it behind. Trowa chuckled again and then took off to change costumes.

"Behold! The Wizard Prince of Arabia! A spectacle like no other you have ever seen! It's story, a simple one of mystery and magic, founded on a Hindu saga." The ringmaster's voice carried to the far reaches of the tent.

Heero took the steps two at a time. The show was nearly over; his work here nearly done. He wanted to collect Duo and head home. The meeting with Trant and Chang could wait or be held without his and Duo's attendance. He moved toward the tiny knot of people where his first target lay. A couple of men had moved the body to the aisle and pushed it into a semi upright position.

Over his shoulder, Heero glanced at the pageant in the ring. The costumes were those of the Arabian Nights, the music was soaring and a little off-key. He hoped Duo was enjoying the show, wherever he was. As he neared his objective, he overheard the two men discussing the fate of the shot man.

"I think this one bumped his head when he fell," a stranger explained. "Been conked out good."

"Doesn't explain the blood over here."

"Broke his shoulder?"

Heero saw the flicker of life behind the slit-wide eye openings, beneath the eyelashes. _Damn._ He felt a mixture of relief, because he had not killed the man, and sorrow that his aim was off. Then Heero felt the eyes on him, catching his movement. He watched as the rifle barrel shifted from where it lay on the injured man's lap to point in his direction. Also in his direction were women and children, unaware of their peril. Heero dove to intercept the lead ball.

"Move!" Heero shouted.

Below him, there was a prince, and of course, a princess to be rescued, and a man of great strength whose feats included pulling up trees by the roots, and a bird of phantasm that flew over the heads of the audience, and that was shot by a single marksman. But the prime essentials were the same - a simple story and color.

Not that Heero caught much of the show. His lunge took him directly into the line of the shot. Luckily, the steel buckle on the hat, easily an inch thick, took the impact of the bullet, buckling a little, while his head and shoulders collided with legs, shoes, and metal. He clutched the stupid hat and sat up. _God damn it all! This made him and Trowa even_.

He ignored the questions and hands of people sitting near. They meant well, wishing to help him and yet unsure whether or not everything Heero had done had been part of the entertainment. Thankfully, activity in the ring below diverted everyone's attention off Heero. Heero leaned, half sitting, staring at the mercenary, who had nearly blown a hole through his head but now lay toppled over the steps, dying, and at the ugly hat in his hands, which had ultimately saved his life.

The "oohs" and "ahhs" of audience were loud enough to break through Heero's reverie. He was surprised to find that the circus was still in progress. As he looked around, Wufei appeared, his frown in place, climbing the stairs to reach Heero. In his wake were two of Trant's deputies. Wufei helped Heero to his feet and back to their row of now-empty seats where they could speak more freely. Heero leaned against the railing, just as Duo and Quatre had done not that many minutes ago. He smiled at the memory and at the fact that they had been totally unaware of how tantalizing a picture they had made.

"Trant's men are carrying out the sonofabitch who took a shot at you."

The music blared and the crowd cried out to the circus entertainers.

Heero grunted, "Hn."

"You are hurt. Damn it all, Yuy!" Chang grumbled behind clenched teeth. "I just wanted a few minutes of everyone's time and you foul it up playing hero. A few minutes. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so."

"I am all right," Heero assured him and stood on his own two feet without wavering to prove it. _Why was Chang so mad?_

Wufei dabbed at his hairline with his immaculate, white handkerchief. "If Maxwell got a look at you right now, he'd say otherwise."

Heero raised a hand as if to swipe at the bloody scrape left when the bullet grazed his head. "Head wounds bleed the most."

"I am familiar with head wounds," Wufei tsked. "And first aid. Stop whatever you think you are doing and hold this to the wound. Now, sit. Be still a few minutes. Hopefully, he won't notice it under your hair. Your elbow is scraped raw. Roll down your shirtsleeve after I bind it." Wufei ripped another fine handkerchief and wrapped the wound. "That's all that I can see. Can you walk?"

"I'm fine." Heero fought down the grunt of pain and wince when he sat. "Bruised tailbone."

Wufei nodded with understanding. "That will take a while to heal."

Heero's face grew thoughtful. _That meant he wouldn't be bottoming for awhile. He could be top. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?_

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Smile, if that's what that is. It gives me chills." Wufei turned away.

"I want to go home." Heero sighed.

"Well, you can't. I told you."

"You told me nothing except we were to hang around for a meeting with Trant. That can happen tomorrow."

"No, it can't! It isn't just a meeting. I need you as a witness. It's… I'm marrying Hilde, if you must know. I wanted it to be a surprise."

Heero registered this information as he did most shocks. "Hn."

"The surprise part was Hilde's idea," Wufei admitted.

Heero smiled and offered to shake his friend's hand. "Congratulations, Chang."

"Thank you. It is…the honorable thing to do."

To avoid eye contact after that embarrassing moment, they both turned back to the action in the circus ring. The band played strange music using unfamiliar scales. Heero assumed this had to do with the Arabian spectacular. Wufei's thoughts must have followed along similar lines.

"_Scheherazade_," he said.

Heero shot back, "Explanation."

"The music they are butchering."

"Oh."

"The lady lives alone beyond the Mecca plain…" intoned the ringmaster as he continued to add to the drama while behind him more props slid into place and sets soared.

Wufei shook his head. "That Ringmaster is an idiot. Can you believe the stupidity of that man? Wizard Prince of Arabia! Based on a Hindu saga! Hindu legends…in Arabia? Absolute rubbish!"

Heero stifled a laugh with a cough. "Maybe it takes place in pre-Islamic times in Arabia.

Wufei snorted contemptuously. Heero could not tell if it was in response to his comment or the entertainment. He did not care. He wanted to collect Duo and go home.

"Of course, from a geographical point of view, the two cultures may meet. Bombay harbor presents one of the most splendid landscapes imaginable, 'with its gemlike islands reflected in the broad blue waters of the Arabian Sea.'"

"You've seen that?" Heero asked, curious.

"Of course not. I was quoting from a travelogue."

"Ah," Heero nodded and shut his eyes.

"Now beyond Mecca (looking from a Western perspective) is desert. But then again, Iraq, Iran and India also lie further in this direction. I suspect 'Mecca plain' was just a quick, and probably thoughtless, reference to place the story in the Middle East. Most of the Arabian Nights stories take place near Baghdad, or the Arabian / Persian Gulf. Mecca is in the Sirat mountains, reached by a pass. There is a plain between the mountains and the Red Sea, but it isn't referred to as the 'Mecca Plain'."

Heero wondered if he hadn't sustained a serious head injury. Chang was babbling nonsense. _Maybe Chang had the head injury._

"Oh, now that is just too much!" Wufei said. "Do not tell me that is _Vishnu_."

Heero raised his heavy eyelids and stared at the manifestation of some mythical scene he did not understand. _Vishnu_? _No, he could not and would not attempt to identify the prop._

"Okay," Heero sighed.

"The Hindu 'mother of the Earth' is carved in stone, and that does look like stone, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." _Why not?_

"She is the queen of the incarnation of a deity in Earthly form, and comes from the ten incarnations of the Hindu god, _Vishnu_. That is the direct meaning, but it has also come to mean the embodiment of a concept or a philosophy in a single person. But this would seem to be the direct meaning. The carving has avatars with the Mother-Goddess. In Hindu mythology, the mother-goddess is _Jaganmata,_ a form of the female principle as mother of the Earth. She is similar to the Greek goddess, Gaea, the earth mother. Gaea gave birth to the race of Gods and the human race."

Heero shut off the view and checked the bandage on his head for bleeding. It appeared to have stopped. Good. Wufei, however, had not.

"At best, this is a cross between the Hindu 'Romeo and Juliet' story, '_Malati _and_ Madhave'_, and '_Vikram_ and the Vampire' a sort of Hindu 'Arabian Nights.' But then--"

"Look it's over." Heero called attention to the obvious just to shut Chang up.

Wufei stopped talking with abrupt snap of his jaw.

"Encore! Encore!" someone shouted, and then the entire tent full of people joined in as if they felt it was their turn to participate.

The noise swelled along with Heero's headache.

"I see the others," Wufei said, and then gratuitously pointed out where they were.

Quatre strode alongside Catherine and Triton. There was Ivy and Great Eagle, Duo and Hilde marching right there with all the other performers, taking their bows and accepting their accolades. Gigantic sets swung out of sight to be stored for another extravaganza. Even the music took a cue from the master of ceremonies and switched to what Heero could imagine would be lofty, romantic music had it been played by anything but than a brass band.

The next moment the color washed from his face and he sat, heavily, in the empty seat beside Heero. The ringmaster stood in the main ring holding Hilde's hand and signaling for an announcement. Winner was nearby and peering into the stands. Barton-Bloom pointed out where he and Heero were sitting and Winner's smile reappeared.

"Look sharp, Yuy. They have spotted us. They are certain to embarrass us in front of the entire town."

"Why?" Heero tucked the bloody handkerchief between the sets and returned his attention to the circus ring. There was Duo and all their friends, front and center with the rest of the circus performers. Sheriff Trant was there, too. The ringmaster was thanking the "boys" for protecting his performers, while letting the show go on. He heard his name. He and Wufei were being summoned to join them in the ring.

"Oh." He answered his own questions just as Wufei had answered his. They were both damaged goods, he decided. "Better get this over with," Heero said. He let Wufei lend him a hand standing.

As they touched ground, the ringmaster broadcast to the crowd that he was going to conduct Wufei and Hilde Chang's wedding ceremony. The man made this pronouncement in the same voice he used to sing "Welcome to the Circus" in his operatic baritone. Flowers appeared out of thin air, and disappeared and reappeared out of a clown's hands until at last he rested the trick bouquet into Hilde's arms. Someone popped a top hat on Wufei. It was madness!

Heero could tell the man of the hour was about to blow. To his amusement, the only person capable of completely diffusing Chang appeared and wrapped herself around him in a tight hug.

"I can't believe you got this together so fast!" Hilde cooed. "I wasn't expecting anything like a proper wedding, but this. You are a marvel, honey-pieWufei's anger fled instantly. He was a hero in the eyes of his wife-to-be and not at all discomfited by her effusiveness.

"Do you have a ring ready?" Duo whispered into Chang's ear, catching him totally off guard.

"A ring? For what?"

Apparently, Chang knew practically nothing of wedding traditions outside of his clan. No amount of education prepared him for this. _Why would the know-it-all need to read about that_, Heero wondered, chuckling?

"Aw, 'Fei, ya gotta have a ring. It's symbolic."

"I have this one." Hilde nudged Wufei. "It was my mother's. When she died, it became mine. If you don't mind, honey, I'd like to wear hers."

Wufei's eyes widened at the sight of the sparkling rock the size of which he calculated to be in the "big" range of two carats, maybe more. Heero felt Duo jerk on his arm.

"Ever seen anything like that before?"

"Never," was Heero's honest answer.

"Whatever you want," Wufei croaked. He nearly choked when she tossed the priceless ring to Duo. "Woman!"

"Now don't you worry, Wufei-dearest. Duo will hand it over when the time's right. You just stand straight and tall and say "I do" at the right times and this'll be over in no time." She winked and smiled. "Then we can go home."

Heero liked the sound of that and he could tell his friend did too. The rest was a blur of noise and color. He was tired and woozy. He was proud to have made it through to the end without falling or leaning too heavily on Duo; at least Duo had not been bothered by his contact. The brief ceremony ended with a jarring rendition of "The Wedding March."

When the lights went out on this last performance, the performers and workers retired to their trailers to catch a few hours of sleep - before hitting the road once last time and closing down for the season.

At least a few of them may have disappeared, but not Heero's friends. His friends were still in the party mood. His friends had plenty to celebrate and they were going to take advantage of the accommodations, while the circus manager generously allowed them to. An impromptu festivity broke out. Bottles of sparkling wine appeared, and Heero sipped a little from a paper cup.

Sheriff Trant strolled about, now and then hauling one of them to the side to tell them, "Fine shooting. Damn, fine shooting."

Heero swallowed another cup of wine and then another. _Shooting was damned thirsty work!_ The entire evening had been one spectacle after another, this one no less spectacular that those contrived to be spectacular. Heero thought Duo was looking spectacularly spectacular and wanted to kiss him, but the Winner pest was in his way.

"So, Duo," Quatre asked. "Now that you've tasted the circus, do you still want to become a part of it?"

Winner turned his anxious look from Duo to Heero and back, waiting for an answer. Apparently, Winners did not answer their own questions, only lowly Changs and Yuys. Winners had, as a last resort, servants to do that. Heero smiled thinking about Rashid as Quatre's answer-man. Duo gazed up into Heero's eyes, and Heero wondered what he saw there. He smiled wider as he recalled he would be "topping" for a while.

"Hell no," Duo said. "Too crazy to do that all the time. I mean, I had a blast out there and all, but I'll take the job of a scavenger any day. Didn't win any raffle either. I sure entered enough times to win something."

Heero wondered about the "scavenger" reference, but set it aside for another time. Many thoughts could be set aside or simply were sliding away. It occurred to Heero that he should have said something to Duo about how well he and Hilde had handled themselves. But, then, he had wanted Duo safely out of the way, not it the thick of things. But, then, Duo hadn't said a thing about his limp or cuts, so Heero decided not to complain. Maybe later. Definitely, later. Set _that_ thought aside, too.

He looked about for a refill, but the drinks had all run out, or so Duo told him. That was too bad. Heero jumped at the sound of a voice exploding like a canon by his ear.

"Taste dictates the performances," the circus manager boomed. He and Winner were chatting over cups of wine with Chang and his new bride standing nearby. They still had wine. "…and the shows change with the styles, trends and the times. While traditional standbys - such as equestrian acts, clowns, and trapeze artists - still form the backbone of the show, circus history is littered with the bones of acts long passed."

"You are so clever, Mr. Trumble!" Hilde gushed.

Heero guessed she was a few cups ahead of him. She sounded silly. He listened closely after that, wanting to overhear what Winner might tell the circus manager. He had come to admire Quatre for seeing the money-making potential in all things. This reminded him that they had to move some freight Monday morning, and that they had not re-supplied the food stores at home. They had not gone to the market. They had been to the circus.

"Dear God," he moaned. No one heard.

"Oh, thank you, thank you ma'am. Our circus is known for promoting the best and brightest. We invented the use of quarter poles, tier seating, and multiple running acts."

"Workers from all over the world are drawn to the circus," Trumble said. "The set up is done mainly by L1 and L2 citizens on work visas. There's an L5 menagerie master and, of course, a few L4 horsemen. After the L3 border wars collapsed their local government, all of a sudden we had were tons of acrobats looking for work. A lot of what they were doing had never been seen here before that. Now it's the norm."

_L3 border wars? _Heero's locked onto Trowa, wondering if he'd been listening, but he couldn't tell. The Cajun's face was veiled behind a fall of hair and screen of smoke. Heero tried to remember if he had ever heard about wars in the L3 area, and nearly missed hearing what he had been waiting for. His thinking was impeded, he decided. He had drunk too much. The conversations were coming in fragments. Disconnected.

Quatre suggested they add a "Floating Palace" on the Rogue River and a water minstrel hall. Heero was certain he had misconstrued that last phrase "water minstrel hall?"

Making money as a circus was difficult. Now that, Heero could understand. _Who had said that, though?_ He made a face. He did not like being drunk.

Winner conceded the point. Some point. A point. "The population of the entire country is small with few cities of any size. The masses do not possess much 'cash money'; barter is in vogue everywhere. That means people tend to be close-fisted, having been bred that way, and the larger majority of them prudish and narrow minded."

The circus manager laughed aloud, and Heero backed up a couple steps. "'The entrance of the theatre is the gateway to hell, and the ring of the circus is the bottomless pit itself--' that was said by the preacher who inveighed against amusements," the circus man told them all.

Heero was having problems wrapping his head around the exchange. Luckily, Quatre was in command of the situation, and Duo was at his side.

"But with new modes of travel we could go farther, take the show truly on the road, and explore outside the Sanc Kingdom," was Winner's comeback.

_Very good comeback._

Quatre spoke loosely about travel by steamboat, canal, and steam railroad, Heero knew that the circus manager was thinking Winner was stark raving mad, but, after a thoughtful silence, he surprised him.

"I see the potential. If you build a working model, I'll test it carrying an act on the river, advertising as we go."

Quatre turned to Trowa, emerald suit in hand, and said, "I think I have the perfect job for Dorothy- heading my advertising firm."

Heero scanned the area for Wufei, to wish him a good night, Hilde, too, for that matter. When he spotted him, he was sliding on a pair of delicate-looking gold-rimmed glasses. In his hand was a paper, which he studied carefully. Heero did not expect him to tear up, but he did and covered it with a quick swipe of his hand. Before Heero could turn away and give him some privacy, Wufei grabbed his arm and handed him a fountain pen.

"Here, I need; that is, I would like you to be the first to sign."

Heero glanced at the ornately scripted page and smiled. "Your marriage license. Of course." He placed his signature on the first open line. "It that all right?"

"Yes." Wufei took back the certificate and grasped Heero's hand. "Thank you, Yuy…my friend."

"Welcome, Chang, my friend."

Then they both broke out into nervous chuckles; the intimate moment lost. Wufei circled the group, collecting signatures. When he had finished, he showed the certificate to Hilde, who gave him a little peck on his cheek, and probably a "Good job, honey" as well.

It was time to go. They all felt it like ripple of warmth in the cool night.

"Before you all leave," Winner called out, "I'm having an afternoon reception for the happy couple tomorrow at my estate. Don't forget! Dress casual!"

Heero found Duo very close, supporting his weight with an arm firmly wrapped around his waist. "Ready ta go?"

Heero rested his arm across Duo's shoulder's. "Yes."

Winner and Barton-Bloom offered the newly married couple a ride to Chang's place in town, leaving Duo and Heero to wend their way home on their own. Heero was glad to have the time to clear his head, collect his thoughts, and stretch his strained muscles. For some inane reason, Heero flashed back to something Duo had said earlier—one of those things he had set aside. It left him feeling empty. And his head hurt and his arm, leg, and rear end.

"What a great time, eh?"

"Hn."

"That shoot out was pretty tight there for a bit. I coulda done without the dragging me off in chains part."

"Hn." Heero was quiet on the walk home.

"And Wufei and Hilde. Married. That's pretty cool, eh?"

"Hn."

"What'sup, 'Ro?"

"Nothing. Just thinking when I shouldn't be."

"Oh? Something on your mind you wanna get off?"

"No."

"C'mon, 'Ro. If you can't tell me it will rot you up."

Heero drew his breath, held it, and let it out slow and easy. "All right. Fall's come. I couldn't help but think about what you'd told me."

"What I told you? What did I tell you? I don't follow."

"Are you or aren't you intending to return to work with Howard?"

"What? The he-ell? Heero fucking idiot Yuy! A whole hell ova lotta water's gone under the bridge since I said that! You don't believe I'd leave you now, do you?"

"You never lie."

"Heero! I'm not going back to the Sweepers. You and I are a team. Partners. Best buds."

Heero smiled. "Like married."

"Yeah, like that."

"Good. I just wanted to get past that."

"Holy shit, 'Ro. You scared the wits outta me. Like you _expected _me to take off."

"Just checking."

"Freaking nuts."

"Clearing the slate."

Duo bumped Heero with his hip and Heero kicked him in the rear, which Duo nearly returned, but then Heero broke down and told him about his aches and pains and things calmed down. It was dark so Duo reached out and touched Heero's hand. Heero clasped the offering and they proceeded down the final quarter mile of the path hand-in-hand.

"So, I guess Quat and Tro are gonna be okay. Whatta relief, huh? I mean, Quatre sure got excited about the circus, which made Trowa feel pretty damned good, I think. And you know Quat had never been before, like me I might add."

"Duo, if Trowa said he'd grown up on a farm, Quatre would get all excited about cows and making hay!"

_It was nice having a "best bud" who loved you_, Heero decided.

That night, they lay beside each other, bedroom window open to the crisp air, wrapped around each other more for comfort than for warmth. That night, like many before and many after, they took turns talking or laying in companionable silence. Duo put his hand inside Heero's bedclothes to stroke him with a sure hand, that thing Heero thought of as a solitary pleasure. In another moment, Duo pulled Heero's willing hand to his own organ and they brought each other sweet, intense feelings and a gasping relief that left them both laughing.

Heero loved the feel of Duo, the smoothness and the hardness of him, the beauty of his face and the tenderness of his voice at such moments. The love threatened to burst from him at times, like one of those penned circus cats prancing and dancing to be free. He curled his heart around that feeling, happy, waiting for the right moment to share it with Duo. Duo always welcomed his confessions, and, in moments of wild abandon, Duo shared his own deep affection.

That a heart's love itself could spark love in another heart seemed as magical as breathing under water to Heero, but it felt as solid as the pull of gravity and as harmless as a butterfly. His dreams had been sweet that summer and now he hoped for more with the fall. Dreams sweetened with Duo himself and the soft days and nights they spent together. He was eighteen, about to turn nineteen, and he was in love. He had no room in his heart or mind for anything else.

They fell asleep, wound together like vines.

End Chapter 19


	20. Chapter 20

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty**

A/N: I did not make up the "old bridge across the ocean" joke, but I modified it to death. Thanks go to 'Snow' and 'Water' for all the suggestions which improved this story.

Duo and Heero's (POV)

* * *

Duo took a lungful of crisp autumn air and tasted the wood smoke. He might have been a city boy, but he adored the out-of-doors, now that Heero was in his life. But this morning, thinking of Heero wasn't as pleasurable as usual. Duo had his reasons.

For one, the least important reason, the day had begun with Commander Captain Yuy barking orders, while Duo-- reduced to Little Skipper Duo-- carried them out.

Before they could leave the house, Heero insisted that Duo help him in the garden. Heero also stocked the fire for the tub. Love the hot soak; hate the garden. Duo debated whether the one warranted hours toiling in the other.

That nice bath afterwards with an attentive boyfriend should have been the decisive factor for Duo. He was not in the mood for attentive Heero, or, to be more precise, a sex-starved, "must be on top" Heero, which was another reason, the more important one.

Duo considered those grounds enough to explain his sentiments. He was not in the mood to get dirty either, and hung back, arms crossed, watching Heero work instead. It was a tantalizing view, despite his current locked-down libido. Lock in down, tie it up, drown it in the river or else be prepared to flop on his back and spread his legs—_again.  
_

"Get to work, Duo and keep your eyes on task," Heero told him.

"Then put your shirt back on!"

Heero chuckled and fired off a tomato at him, plastering Duo's tattered shirt with a mushy blob.

Duo scrambled about for a retaliatory dirt clod, braid flying and snapping in the air as he whipped about, but Heero leaped to action, snatched Duo's wrist, and hauled him into an embrace. Duo felt the slap of Heero's bare skin against his thin shirt a second before his unexpectedly playful boyfriend pushed a hand between them, unbuttoning as he went, and smearing the tomato onto his own skin. Then he rubbed and mashed their bodies together.

"'Ro!" Duo growled.

His body betrayed him by proudly responding to the sexual moves. Duo's protests turned to whimpers as Heero's tongue lapped off the remainder of the vegetable with more attention to pleasuring his lover's nipples than cleaning him.

"God, 'Ro, if you don't stop we're gonna make a mess of the garden."

"Oh, I've stopped. I just wanted to give you a sampling of what's yet to come."

"Incentive?"

"To finish, yes."

"Got it. It, ah, works, sorta."

"Hn," Heero grunted in what Duo thought was a far too self-satisfied manner. "I guess you can be lured into ripping out weeds for hours, and possibly anything, with a steamy soak as a promised reward."

"Maybe I'm not that easy anymore." Duo knew he sounded petulant. His ass was still sore from the work out the night before and again first thing in the morning. Another round on the bottom was not settling well with him.

Heero kissed his lips, very gently. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

Heero had announced the night before that he could not "bottom" for a while because he had injured his lower extremities in a fall while shooting the bad guys. Hearing that had been a disappointment. Duo liked switching positions, but he had not doubted Heero's word. Duo knew he was not making up the injury. Heero had to be in pain even to mention a disability, since he never complained about minor wounds.

Duo understood, he had told Heero. Yes, he really did. It was okay.

Heero had managed to keep his composure then; Duo had to give him that. He had not smirked knowingly at Duo's "tough luck," but Heero had not cried in his soup over having to be "the man" for an indeterminable amount of time either.

Duo had accepted the situation as best as he could. He had flubbed breakfast, burning the eggs, and had snubbed the yard work, so far, but he had not complained. Not vocally. Not a word.

Still, it was not fair. Duo liked trading off sex roles. He also had a niggling dread of becoming the "girl" in the relationship.

"I'll let you 'top', sort of," Heero whispered. "I thought of a way."

_Oh, Heero, always with the contingency plan_, Duo mused."You have? Really?"

"Yes, really."

This turn of events sparked Duo's curiosity and gave him the final enticement to finish with haste. "Well, what's holding things up here? Let's get this over with!"

"Good. There's lots to do. Hoe between the rows, and look for the bugs eating the holes in the bean leaves."

"Can do!"

He let Heero handle the harvesting. He had snatched peeks at Heero selecting particular vegetables and fruits and placing them in a basket "for Hilde and Wufei."

"No matter what other gifts they get, they'll both appreciate fresh food," he said.

"Yeah. Are you done with that row yet?"

"I'd rather watch you."

"Hn."

Duo took care to make the rest of his observations less obvious.

Most of Heero's other pickings filled wooden boxes from the Watergardens. He and Heero had no time and even less skill for "putting up" food, but Rashid had assured them all the food would be properly stored or preserved for them. Quatre was awfully generous, Duo thought.

He wouldn't mind learning to dry and can fruit and vegetables. It had always seemed like magic, opening a jar of summer peaches in the dead of winter. But, they had plenty of work demanding their attention and they were waiting for the invitation from governor Treize at any time. A call to his residence was their call to action, to steal the steam engine plans and get out safely.

By the time that was all over, who knew what the fall out would be? The garden would be over and done with, though, and he just knew Heero would expect him out here again, breaking his back tearing it all up. _Unless…?_

"You know, end of fall when this is all over and done with, we oughta tip-off Sheriff Trant about the bodies buried out here."

"What are you talking about, Duo?"

"Just think how fast he'd send out some of his boys to dig it all up! All that work done for us."

"Duo…"

"Okay, okay! I'll get to bug hunting for you."

The work went fast, the undressing faster, and the slipping into the deep tub to soak even faster.

"Hard work looks good on you," Duo told the bronzed God sharing his water.

He felt Heero's dark lusty gaze rake over his own sturdy torso before submerging most of it under water. When Heero's voice cracked, Duo met his eyes.

"You, t-too."

"Oh, man," Duo groaned. "C'mere—"

"This first."

Heero closed the distance between them then turned Duo around and with careful tugs, loosened the braid, and released the streams of hair into the water. This was better than any dream Duo had ever had. Never, ever, ever, could he have imagined being loved by a man like Heero, living a life so perfect.

"I'm the luckiest fucker alive," Duo said in a gasp as hands massaged his shoulders. A hard chest rubbed up against his back.

"Yes, you are." A nose nuzzled his neck. "And you are going to get luckier because I can't sit in here. Too hard on my tailbone."

"Oh, yeah."

Duo rotated around and slid Heero onto his lap. "Better?"

Heero parted his legs and wrapped them around Duo. The kiss in reply said "yes."

"Hmm… new position." Duo said. Heero gripped both erections in one hand. Duo gasped at the unexpected sensation and nearly lost his hold on Heero. "That's real good, 'Ro."

"Yeah. We look good together."

Duo nearly lost it when he looked down to confirm what his excited nerve endings were signaling him.

"Open me, Duo."

His husky voice sent shivers down Duo's spine. When he guided Duo's hand to his opening, Duo understood what he had in mind.

"This won't hurt you?"

"I can ride you this way. As long as I keep my weight off the tailbone, I'm fine. Better than…fine…oh!"

He wasn't actually "on the top," but Duo wasn't about to complain how things were turning out.

"Duo! So…good."

Duo's fingers were long and able to reach far inside his lover. He loved this. He loved making Heero squirm with pleasure, and cry out his name.

"Now, fuck me now!" Heero ground out between clenched teeth.

"God you're so hot inside," Duo said.

In the privacy of their own home, the two lovers could fully express everything they suppressed when in public. They longed to touch, to kiss, and to share lingering looks. Sex was the final release of all that tension.

They bathed again after their playtime then rushed to dress.

"Take this shirt; it's cleaner."

"Thanks, 'Ro, but it isn't my best color."

"Best color?" Heero straightened his shoulders and stared Duo down. "That sounds just plain stupid."

"Not really. Dark blue really looks better on you. Green for me-- or brown." He would have explained his color-skin tone theory further, but Heero was rolling his eyes and they were late. He just gave up and gave in. "Oh, okay. I'll wear it."

Heero shook his head. "You have some odd notions."

"Argh! My hair! It's dripping and… is that the door?"

"I'll get it. You get dressed and," he reached for Duo's shoulders and lost his hands in waves of loose, sodden chestnut-colored hair, "calm down."

"Yeah, yeah—" Duo grumbled.

"It's just a party." Heero freed him, chuckling as he walked out of the bedroom. Duo yanked on pants and buttoned up the blue shirt all the while attempting to towel dry his hair.

"No socks!"

He heard Heero at the door exchanging words with a deep voiced man. Dropping to his hands and knees, he crawled about pairing up socks until an alarming voice boomed over his head. "Master Yuy is loading the carriage with packages. He asked if I might assist Master Maxwell."

"A-ah! Oh, Rashid. It's you. Help me? Ah, well, no. Not unless you can fix hair. I'm okay putting on my own shoes and socks."

"If you would sit, sir. I am an accomplished plaiter."

Duo sat. "I don't know what that it, but I trust you not to make me look like a girl. Simple three part, low at the back of my neck… oh, that feels good."

"Master Quatre finds a scalp massage relaxing. You seem tense."

"Ummm. Do you think this color's good for me? I don't think so. I told Heero it's better on him, and I think he thinks I'm crazy of something, but I really look good in greens and browns, gold, too, but I haven't got a gold shirt. I did try on one of Quatre's yellow ones once, and it wasn't bad. He looks good in blue, but lighter blue than Heero, don't you think?"

"You have a good eye for colors, sir."

"Hey, thanks. You think you can explain that to Yuy?"

"I don't believe so. What would like me to tie this off with, sir?"

"I guess it's just a special talent I've got. It's a good thing 'Ro has me to keep him looking put together." Duo handed Rashid a thin strip of black leather just as Heero stuck his head in the room.

"Duo, are you ready? That's a nice job, Rashid."

"Thank you, sir. Is… Ruggles… accompanying us to Watergardens tonight?"

"No, he's staying here to guard the pumpkins and corn from raccoons," Heero said.

"Very good, sir."

Rashid ferried them, their produce, and their wedding gift basket to the Watergardens, where they were late to the reception for Wufei and Hilde and Duo's braid wet, but beautifully braided. Both men arrived feeling relaxed, confident, and hand-in-hand.

(o)

Duo noted the positions of all the party goers. Relena was there, but this time without the homophobe, the Marquis Weiridge, who had accompanied her at the previous 'family' bash. With a sigh of relief, he led Heero on a weaving path by the "noshes" and then onward through the crowd to a tight knot of well-dressed people.

Relena, Quatre, Trowa, and Colonel Merquise stood drinks in hand, talking. Duo parked himself near Heero, not quite touching, and listened. Bridge building topped the discussion, and Zechs was relating something of interest, from the looks on everyone's faces.

"My biggest decision concerned materials. Apparently, the local white spruce is subject to decay—not recommended for piers or bridges. For an additional 30,000, I could use the long lasting yellow cedar, which was naturally resistant to decay. This comes from the far north where trade is rather dicey currently; making it too expensive for something that is not being built to last."

Zechs Merquise caught Duo's eye. "Maxwell, you didn't leave with the circus? Rumor is they offered you a job."

Duo smiled and shook his head, avoiding the topic. Trowa felt the need to speak, however. "Dey'll take juss 'bout anyone to muck out de cages."

"Hey! They said I'd get to be a lion tamer!"

"Dey tell dat tot all de clowns," Trowa said, laughing.

Relena sailed over, jostling Heero's elbow and getting him to turn his way. "Hello, Mr. Yuy."

"Miss Relena."

"I hear you all went to the circus. How quaint! I heard the bareback riding was charming."

Trowa nodded solemnly and silently. Duo, too, refrained from sounding off, letting Heero and Zechs handle the young woman.

"There was some excitement over a few men shooting guns?" she asked.

"A little," Heero said. "If that is something that interests you, I could shoot you?"

Relena laughed. "You are so droll and far handsomer than a man should be. I wonder, could I persuade you to refresh my punch?"

Heero did the unexpected, at least to Duo's mind, and dutifully went to the table to get her a cup of fruity drink. Without Heero to hold her attention, Duo watched Relena turn on Zechs.

"Brother-dear? Are you back in town for awhile now?"

"Only for the weekend. I have my … project to see to. Oh, did I tell you, I'll be working with Dorothy Masson? You might remember her as Dorothy Catalonia; that was her maiden name before she married. You do remember her?" Zechs said.

Relena forced a smile, as if she suffered from a mouthful of broken glass. "The laundry woman? Is that why she's here today? You want her working with you?"

"Yes. So?"

"So, _what?_" she shot back.

"Nothing."

"Plenty."

"Really--?"

"Shut up!" she shouted and stomped off in the direction of Heero.

Had the bullet-spray of these responses been real ammunition, Zechs would have died where he stood.

"Dere's two viewpoints to arguin' wit a woman. Neider one works," Trowa muttered.

Duo checked his own laughter with the approach of Dorothy herself.

"You shouldn't try and make her accept me." Dorothy warned Zechs of her presence with a touch to his elbow.

"You heard? My apologies."

"Okay," Duo put in, "I'm the new guy on the block so I'm not in on your soap opera. Wanna fill me in?"

Dorothy spoke more to Zechs than to Duo. "Relena and I were the best of friends, but she has never forgiven me, you know."

"For what? I have wondered what drove you two apart."

"Hurting you."

"Me? Impossible!" Zechs looked as if it were indeed impossible.

"Didn't you know what happened?"

"No, I was oblivious to anything not of the army. I was a dedicated young man." He reached out and touched her chin, tilting it up slightly. "Tell me."

"Relena thought you and I were… more than friends. She was so certain our friendship had grown into something more."

"She always was a romantic dreamer," Zechs said, smiling faintly.

"It was a nothing short of an insult to the state when I left you to marry Tom Masson. She new nothing of my family's loss at the time or what that meant to my life; and Tom was a good man. There was a time when money and position didn't matter to her."

"It doesn't, unless you haven't either," Zechs commented softly.

"You always had that down-to-earth side to you. Relena did too, but then—" Dorothy sighed. "Of course, she is only your half-sister. It could have been worse." With that chilling pronouncement, Dorothy Catalonia-Masson turned and left.

Zechs sighed and turned to Duo. "Ah, here comes your better half back, unscathed." He ignored Duo's nervous look. Same-sex-lovers was not a safe party conversation point, and Duo certainly didn't want to be at the hub of this one. Thankfully, Zechs had not meant for him to be either, and in his artful way changed the subject. "Now, you must have a good joke to tell."

"Yeah, okay." Duo caught Heero's interested but unconcerned expression, and knew that he had parted from Relena without a scratch. Reassured that all was well, Duo launched into his treasure-trove of jokes. "So, this poor kid asks this rich dude to do him a favor and he'll grant him a wish."

"This isn't going to be autobiographical, is it?" Quatre asked, arching an eyebrow in question.

"Auto-what?"

"About your life," Heero said.

"Like real? Naw, made up stuff. Want me to tell this or not?"

"Please, go on," Zechs encouraged.

"Yeah, well this poor kid says he'll grant the rich dude a wish if he does him a favor first. The rich dude has nothing to lose so he agrees. The kid asks him to build a bridge over the ocean to the land on the other side. The rich dude laughs and says, 'That's impossible. Think of the logistics of that! How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the ocean? Think of how much wood it would take! The danger! Really, that's quite impossible.'"

"De rich dude, he has a point."

"Shh, Trowa, Duo looks put out. We shouldn't interrupt him."

Duo paused to glare at them both before continuing. "The kid, being tough and used to adversity all the time, just shrugged it off. You get used to deprivation after awhile."

"You said it wasn't 'bout you," Trowa insisted.

"Maybe it's about you. Ever think of that, doofus?" Duo said. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. 'Don't be that way,' the rich dude said. 'Ask for something else that maybe I can do for you.'"

"Not even a bad rich dude, see?" Trowa whispered as he made room for Wufei and Hilde to join the group.

"Who's rich?" Hilde piped up.

"Shh," Quatre warned her. "Duo's telling a story, er, joke."

Hilde sent a smile Duo's way. "By all means don't let us interrupt."

"And the poor kid, he said, 'Well, okay. My wife always says that I don't care and that I'm _insensitive_. So, could you come over for dinner and talk to her? Help me understand her, how she feels inside and what she's thinking when she's giving me the silent treatment or she's crying. I'd really need to know what she wants when she says "nothing" so I can make her happy.'"

"What would you know about women, Duo Maxwell?" Hilde asked.

"Don't matter," Trowa said. "He said it ain't auto-bio-graphical."

"I know plenty!" Duo insisted. "I lived with you for years, Hilde."

"Oh, no… dis is bad, now."

"Oh for goodness sake," Wufei huffed. "You don't think I'd worry about Hilde and _him_, do you?"

Duo laughed. Hilde flung back her head and cackled in a most unladylike, but joyful manner. They all joined in, laughed, and diffused any tension that might have been building in the group.

Quatre was the first to speak. "Duo, please, I want to know how the story turns out."

"Absolutely," Zechs agreed. "Enlighten us, please."

"Well, twist my arm, heh, heh… Anyways, while the poor kid was explaining his problem, the rich dude was getting all red in the face and flustered like. When the kid was finished, the rich dude just blurted out, 'You want that bridge two lanes or four?'"

"Oh, ho!" Zechs laughed aloud. "My bridge building woes pale when compared to your everyday problems. Thank you … Lord Maxwell, for putting this all into perspective for me."

"Hey, Duo!" Hilde jabbed him in the ribs to get 'his lordship's' attention.

"What's that, Mrs. Chang?" her claw-like fingers gripped his arm and he found himself being dragged off to the side. "Where we going?"

"Not far. Oooh, say that again, sweetie. It's so smart-sounding."

"What's that?" Duo said, teasing her.

"Silly boy. I just wanted to talk to you alone for a second. Oh, lemme give you a big hug. There, now. Just look at us old crazy Sweepers at this fancy party!"

"You are glowing, Hilde. And married. Man, it's hard to believe how things have changed in just six months."

"Amazing, yes. You were so lost and scrawny."

"I'm _fat _now?"

"You're built, honey. You've got shoulders most men would weep for. You're all tan and filled out and handsome. Look at you blush! And you have that someone special, too, don't you?"

"Yeah, 'Ro's the best. I couldn't have dreamed up a more perfect man to come into my life."

"Why, that was the most romantic thing I've ever heard you say. My, my, your man must be good for you. Mine sure is."

"'Fei? He's a character all right. But you can trust him. He'll never dishonor you. A square shooter."

"Straight arrow."

"Straight and hard-assed."

"What do you know about my man's ass?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" Duo nearly wrenched his neck in his mad scramble to see if Wufei was standing nearby, sharpening his sword.

"Ha, hahaha! Honey, he didn't hear us, but here he comes now to remove me from your clutches." She leaned in and whispered. "He doesn't trust you with me, you know. I told him I once had a little crush on you and—"

"You told him that? Man, no wonder he gives me those 'I'm gonna gut you in your sleep someday' looks."

"Oh, you always have been a sensationalist, dear. He'd do nothing of the sort, unless you gave him cause, which you wouldn't. So don't worry. Let's go join the others."

"Geez… fine." He wore his most innocent look as they approached Wufei, and in return, he received a look that would curdle cream.

Hilde, unconcerned, continued talking to him as they entered the circle of their little group of friends. "Duo, I got to thinking; remember that old Sweeper's joke, about the bridge in the desert?"

"Shit, yeah. Mostly, anyway. Wanna share the telling of it?"

"Please, do," Zechs put in. "The real thing is threatening to bury me in scaffolding. I need something to think of to lighten the load."

"I suggest an improved support structure," Quatre said.

Smiling, Zechs asked, "Are we still talking about construction or have you moved on to personal issues?"

"Both. The latter. Your choice. I had a lesson to learn of my own about who to trust and how to build a circle of friends I could count on."

"You question my judgment choosing friendships?"

"Treize Khushrenada for one."

"Whatever could you mean? I thought I explained that one. I'm a principled man of quixotic nature, haven't you noticed?"

"Colonel Merquise, You're good at impersonating rarefied intellectuals. I don't know where you get it."

Zechs studied Quatre a moment. "That wasn't really a compliment, was it?"

"That's why I use you."

"I'd rather hear 'That's why I pay you.'"

"Oh, come on. You're too rich already."

"Sometimes I wish I weren't."

"Rich?"

"Yes."

"No, you don't."

"You're right; I don't."

"Are you two done already?" Hilde squawked with impatience.

Wufei chuckled at the clever repartee. It seemed that with Hilde glowing on his arm, nothing could bother Chang Wufei, so Duo smiled, too. Zechs and Quatre obviously had a history together and yet maintained an uneasy camaraderie.

"Forgive me again, my lady," Zechs said. He added a gracious bow, which smoothed her ruffled feathers.

"All right, then, ah, it starts with the folks from L2 being upset because of their bad reputation," Duo started.

"A group of them got together and approached a conference of other folks from L3, L4, and L5, and asked for help," Hilde said, trading off.

"They didn't ask the dudes from L1 because their reputation wasn't so hot either."

"Worse, even," Heero grumbled and exchanged insolent smiles with Duo.

Hilde took over, "The L3'er replied, 'You must do something so the world will respect you'—succinct and to the point, you see. And, the L4 representative said, being very polite and sensitive. 'I'm so sorry! We are known for our technology and the L3'ers are known for their resourcefulness. We have the world's respect. The must be some way for you--'"

"The L5 dude said that they had everyone's respect because of their big swords," he met Wufei's widening eyes with a wink, "and because they housed the greatest libraries, or something."

"What he told the man from L2 was that they needed to do something world-famous to gain respect. Tell it right, Duo-dear."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Chang. Okay, so, the L4'er had more to say and was great with plans, naturally, so he said, 'Yes, he's right. Why don't you find a place in this world in need of a bridge that no one has dared build, build it, build it big and bad, and then come back to us, and we will help publicize it.'" Duo had pitched his voice higher and said the lines in an over-dramatic voice that set Quatre to laughing hard.

"With that, the L2'er set off to build his bridge. He designed it, worked six months, and finally completed it. He then dutifully returned to report it to the conference. The bridge was a beautiful bridge but it had one flaw: it had been erected in the middle of the L4 desert."

"Dat's one hellova flaw."

"No shit!" Duo chuckled. "Anyway, the know-it-all L5'er said, 'No, no. See, that is why you have your bad reputation. There is no need for a bridge in the middle of the desert. Now go and dismantle it, and find a more strategic spot to erect it.'"

"Well educated," Wufei said under his breath.

"_Egg_heads," Duo repeated with emphasis.

Hilde raised her voice over the others. "The L2 dude left, but then returned to the conference only two weeks later. The L3'er said, 'Two weeks! It only took you two weeks to dismantle that bridge and build a new one? That is amazing!'"

"To which the L2 dude replied, 'Well, not exactly. When we returned to the bridge we couldn't dismantle it because there were all these Sanq officials fishing off it.'"

That set off another roar of laughter, Zechs the loudest.

"I had a question." Heero cleared his throat to get his attention. "At the circus, just before we went home, the circus manager said something. I wonder what you know about the L3 border wars."

"Those occurred before he was in the army, certainly," Wufei cut in. "According to the history books—"

"Pardon me, but whatever the books say, it is wrong. Treize told me about it. There was a local revolt due to a sudden rise in taxes. Mercenaries were called in."

"Dekim Barton."

"Yes, Heero. He was the leader. Treize hired him to carry out orders where the Sanq army wouldn't go."

"You mean where it was expedient but didn't look good politically to go in and kill demonstrators against the state," Quatre said.

"It could be looked at in that manner. I wasn't there at the time, being five years old at best, possibly as old as eight, and he didn't tell me everything behind all his decisions."

"So," Heero said. Duo watched as he and Trowa communicated with their eyes. "Approximately sixteen years ago, Treize Khushrenada hired Dekim Barton and his mercenaries to put down an insurgence along an L3 border, a bloody one most likely."

"Many civilians of L3 were killed, yes."

Trowa spoke up. "I would have been about de right age fo when Dekim got me. Cat'rine says she was juss a chil' o'seven or so when she remembered an attack and her folks killed and baby bro' taken away. Dat was in de L3 sector, or so de tale she spun went."

"That shouldn't be too hard to investigate," Wufei said. "There are court records of births and marriages. If you and Catharine are related, or not, you can find your true name and heritage."

Trowa shrugged uncaring. "I am who I am."

"But don't you see? You may have other family, a home to go back to," Quatre cried out. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I have a home, now, and dis is it." Duo's knees weakened at the heated gazes shared between Trowa and his lover. "I figured you understood dat when I gave up smoking."

"For you" was insinuated, but not said aloud.

"Yes." Quatre's smile lit up the room. "But it is so good to hear you say that. Now, then, I ought to be a proper host and propose a toast to the newly wed couple! Does everyone have a glass? Rashid, please see that there's champagne to go around."

His was the first of the toasts. Many more followed. Matrimony was a joyous occasion and it was time to surround Wufei and Hilde with warm wishes from dear friends and supporters.

Duo thought that Quatre over his drink limit and was a little tipsy. He kept leaning on Trowa, giggling and pawing him. Trowa took it well, smiling and providing his boyfriend a firm support. When Quatre called for another round of drinks, Duo wondered if he should chance getting smashed.

"I have an announcement!" Quatre chortled.

_Oh God, no… don't say anything you'll regret! _"Trowa, stop him," Duo begged, but the Cajun shrugged his shoulders resigned to deal with whatever fall out there might be. "Not everyone here's as tolerant as Wufei or Zechs if he's gonna say something about you guys, you know?"

"Juss chill, mom ami."

"Chill?"

"I can't use yer L2 slang?"

Before Duo could reply to that, Quatre was bubbling over with his news. "It is my duty to tell you all that my former engagement to Miss Claire is formally dissolved. Now, no need for sorrow. She was just another in a long line of failures. Why, I could fill a ballroom with my rejects!"

"Speaking as one, you have had this very room overflowing with your castoffs before, haven't you?" That Relena was the one to say this, shocked Duo, but that she laughed, really laughed as she said it just plain amazed him.

The mood lightened as everyone joined in the joke, teasing Quatre a little about his "tough luck" even though the adoring look on his face whenever he looked into Trowa's eyes made it plain that he would "pull through" just fine.

They were into another round of toasts and listening to one of Duo's longer stories, when a messenger arrived for Master Winner.

"What is it?" Wufei asked. "I recognize the governor's crest on the paper."

"You are right," Quatre said. "Looks like this is it, Duo; you and Wufei are cordially invited to a dinner party. We have only one week to prepare and then you have a two-day trip by horseback."

After that pronouncement, the tone of the festivities changed. Serious business ahead meant there was little time for parties, so they made the best of what little they had. The significance of the invitation passed over Relena's head and Dorothy was not at all sure why a summons to the governor's residence resulted in such solemnity.

"I'll need more champagne after hearing that," Wufei said, summarizing most everyone else's feelings.

The next time Duo felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Quatre and not Hilde. "What's up, Quat?"

"I just wanted you to know how much I admire your courage. Going up against Khushrenada…"

"Damnit, Quat, I'm not doing this all alone."

"I know, and I want _you_ to know, ahhh..." Quatre faltered, " Oh! Yes, I want you to know that I'll get you out no matter what. A-and don't take any chances. Nothing is worth your life."

"You're not just saying that because you think 'Ro would shoot you if I didn't make it back?" Duo tacked on a smile to show he meant it as a joke, sorta. Quatre swayed, and Duo wondered how much champagne Quatre had swigged back.

"Oh, of course not." Quatre's blush covered his face and Duo could feel the heat of it from where he stood. "I-I really like you, Duo."

"Well, ah…" Duo wasn't sure what to say to that, especially when Quatre followed that up with a chaste kiss to his cheek.

When Duo wasn't fast enough with a snappy retort, Quatre blasted him with the cornflower blue of his eyes. "Don't you love me?"

"Ah, sure, Quat. You're close as a bro."

"Oh, good. I really care about you and want you to be happy. That's just soooo much more important in the long run, don't you agree?"

"Um, yeah. Friends and family, if you've got one, that just can't be beat."

"It's just that I've been so lonely and now I have all these friends and a lover. Did you know I have a lover?"

"O-kay. I can see you've had way to much to drink. Let's get you up to your room."

"Yes. I should go to bed. Will _you _take me?"

_Not on your life! _Duo called for help and Trowa was at his elbow in an instant. Zechs Merquise, a practiced party closer, called an end to the party and helped shuttle everyone out the door. Wufei, Trowa, and Heero had set the time and agenda for their upcoming departure, so the couples sorted themselves out and parted, pleasantly intoxicated.

(o)

For Heero and Duo, the next few days meant many bittersweet moments. They planned to work, to haul freight, earning more cash, spending time together, and gathering what they would need for the trip ahead. Who knew when the next stretch of peaceful time together would be?

"Duo, we bought Ruggles a dog collar so we could leash him properly to the boat and take him with us sometime. Let's do it."

"Fine by me, Cap'n. C'mere you mangy dog. No, don't bite the collar. Hold still. Grr."

"Is that you or the dog growling?"

"Both. I'm lettin' him know who's boss."

"Oh? And that is…?"

"Me. There! Got. It. On. Now, don't you look sharp, Rug-face?"

"You are talking to the dog." Heero smiled and packed another bag of food into the wooden crate If they didn't eat out, they'd save money.

"You talk to him, too, when you don't think I'm listening."

Heero shook his head and continued packing and cleaning the kitchen.

"Yeah, you do. And that's okay. No one knows how smart Ruggles is. Ruggles is too smart by half, smarter than the goats he watches over, but then that only takes half."

"Duo, shut up, get his leash on, and help me load the boat."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n!"

The river wound through miles of pretty scenery, neither grand nor majestic, but just pretty. The hills billowed. They were all wooded, and as autumn had set in, the larch and the birch were only green in sheltered hollows. On the crests they were a mass of burnished gold, with here and there a splash of deep crimson, as though the sun had given them a hurried kiss in passing. Sometimes, when there was depth, the water swirled beneath scarped and grey rock, with mosses and flowers in the crevices. Ruggles barked at the rushing water, at the birds flitting overhead, and at the fish visible but out of reach.

Heero and Duo overtook great rifts of tied timber, a hundred yards along, floating on the stream, and kept in mid-channel by three giant oars at each end. Duo raised a hand in greeting, recognizing one of the Sweepers at an oar. The wood was allocated for building the superstructure and wooden trusses for the Peacecraft bridge over the Rogue River. Six giant piers, spaced equally apart, segmented the river. Rude words and curses had already been carved into several of the uprights. The bridge project was not adding to the colonel's popularity. Currents and eddies flowed around the timbers as they sailed past.

"Six spans built already!" Duo shouted.

"It will be more than halfway done before we go to Khushrenada's."

"We? Quatre doesn't want you involved. Too many cooks and all that."

"I know and it doesn't matter. Trowa's going and I'll bet Quatre watches his back. I sure as hell won't let you walk into the lion's den with a scholar and a clown as protection."

"So you're the lion tamer now, eh?" Duo's smile spread. "You know that's the job I wanted, don't you?"

"Why else would I have mentioned it?"

"Tease."

"Sexy."

"Hot."

"Beautiful."

"Mine."

"Mine, too," Heero agreed. "Ugh, Ruggles, stop licking me! Dogs have no business on boats. Whose idea was it to bring him along?"

"That would be yours, Cap'n, sir. And we'd better take it to shore or we'll need to scrub the desks of doggy-doo."

"Idiot… and I meant myself."

This time when they passed the inlet at the southern terminus of Serendipity, they noticed a Sweepers craft quartering the river, guarding the entrance. Quatre Winner's steamboat company appeared well protected. Heero and Duo waved as they passed.

"We should stop into the White Fang. We haven't in ages and it's got that pale ale we like. Would you like that?" Heero asked.

"Yip!"

"He wasn't asking you, you smelly, ratty little dog," Duo said to the dog sweeping the deck with his wagging tail. "You stay on board and guard the fur."

"Yip!"

"Yeah, thought you'd like that."

"Yeah, that would be a great way to cool off, 'Ro."

After that, the day was short because they worked constantly without a break loading and unloading pelts and tobacco for transport back to Sublimity. Whenever Duo looked up, Heero had at least one eye on him. He would smile and look away, but his eyes would be back moments later. Heero never let him out of his sight, Duo noticed. Duo thought Heero was still afraid he would run off to join the Sweepers or the circus or just leave him. He did not know how to undo that assumption; Heero probably did not either. Maybe with time he would prove his reliability.

They had packed their dinner and later they slept on the boat. The Sweepers would have put them up, but Duo wanted to sleep with Heero in his arms. He knew their easy days working the river together were numbered. He could count them on one hand, the days before he and Wufei left. Oh, and Duo knew Trowa, Heero and Quatre would follow, but it would not be like this.

"Put your arms around me and hold me, 'Ro."

"Always. We'll find a way for it to be always. I promise."

(o)

Late the next morning they headed back north, pausing only for a quick midday bite and for a brief stopover at Tumbletown. Before this trip, Heero had spoken to Quatre and Wufei, but it had been Hilde who gave him the best ideas as to what to do for Duo. If he was lucky, Quatre had the biggest surprise built and installed. If he was luckier, Hilde and Wufei had made the other purchases and stowed them in the house. And fed the cat.

"In a hurry?" Duo asked Heero.

"Woof!"

"Ruggles, sit!"

"He wants to give to kisses. Like me, that way."

"I like yours. His are all tongue and smell like rotten fish."

"You are in a hurry, aren't you?"

"Yes. Remember when I asked you about your birthday?" Heero asked.

"Not really. Oh, yeah, I don't have one and you said you'd share yours with me."

"Duo, don't look so, I don't know, _wary_."

"I don't not want to look too interested in case it was just a joke."

"I wouldn't joke about a thing like that. I know you hate disappointments."

"So, you're serious? Is that today? Is today your birthday? You didn't think to tell me earlier so I could get you a surprise?"

"I said it would be in fall. Don't worry. You'll have plenty more birthdays to surprise me. This one's for you, since you never had one. All right?"

"Jeez, 'Ro. Yeah, I guess."

"When we get home we will celebrate our birthdays."

"It'll be dark before we get home," Duo said.

"I miss that about summer. The long days."

The sun set in a purple haze, making the river a sheet of claret. Then a biting chillness sent Heero and Duo to hunt out their heavy coats. Night was born with a rich blueness, and the pale crescent of a moon came up from behind the Sanq Kingdom hills, but sank in an hour, just as they poled into the cove and their boathouse.

Heero's nervous energy transferred to Duo and Ruggles. The instant the familiar dock appeared. Ruggles started whining and biting his rope. Heero untied him and the dog leaped to shore, dashing into the gloom on the path to their house.

"Yip, yip!"

"Heero grabbed one bag of clothes and threw it over his shoulder. Duo hefted the leftover food bag and joined hands. They ran to the house, lanterns swinging, flames flickering, dimming cautioning them to slow down. Duo's winked out, but not before he reached the front porch.

There hanging from thick chains was a wood swing. Brightly colored pillow cushioned the seat, a fine, wool blanket strewn over the back offered the final, warm touch.

"Heero! Look! Is this--? Did you--? Wow! This is so cool!"

"You like it?"

"You got us a porch swing for our birthday! I love it!

"Almost too late."

"But it'll be here for next summer and we can use it then. And the one after that and the one after that and—"

"Forever."

"Yeah."

"So, you like it, huh?" Heero grinned. "Well, if you like this, then I think you'll like what's inside."

Duo fumbled with the doorknob. "You got me more?"

"Us."

Duo gave the door a final shove and pulled Heero and his lantern inside. "Where?"

"Look in the bedroom."

Duo took the lantern and rushed through the front room. Ruggles danced around Heero's feet then darted past him, following Duo and barking in excitement. Lucifer hissed from the comfort of the barely glowing fireplace. Wufei must have added a few logs that morning when he dropped off the gifts, Heero thought. He would have to thank him for all the kindnesses he had done for him over time—something very special.

Duo shouted and Ruggles barked form the room, and then Duo appeared holding up his arms to display the gifts. "How cool is this? Matching black leather pants!"

Heero was not sure which he wanted to see first: Duo in them or out of them. Duo made his mind up for him.

"Let's try them on!"

"How about let's strip?"

"Yeah,_ then _try'em on."

"Then take them off, really,_ really_ fast_..._."

"Yeah? You'll have to rip them off my dead—'Ro! Hands off!"

* * *

End Chapter 20


	21. Chapter 21

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Wufei (POV)

* * *

Wufei met Duo at the cabin early the next day. Wearing clothes finer than usual and lounging on the porch swing, Duo looked ready to nap rather than head out to the governor's estate. Wufei felt elegant atop his fine horse, his sword hanging at his side. From that altitude, he could look down on everyone.

"Are you even packed?"

"Yep. Bag's inside on the bed."

"I take it Winner hasn't arrived with your horse?"

"I'm here," Quatre called out from within the house. He stuck his head out the front door. "Heero wanted to talk."

"Wrangle," Duo interpreted. "I'm staying out of it."

Wufei rolled his eyes. "Not that again."

Discord ruled inside.

"Yep. Same old argument. Heero demands to be at Treize's party, providing backup while I steal Tsubarov's plans from the gov' office, but Quatre wants to stick with his original plan and keep Heero waiting in the countryside for the big hand-off."

"His role is integral to our strategy, and he should know it!" Quatre said. "Wufei provides cover while Duo finds and steals the steam engine plans, which are transferred from Duo to Trowa and from there out of the place and passed off later to Heero."

"It works with me there," came Heero's voice through the open window.

"We have to get the plans to safety far away, Heero! Trowa and I will be on site as backup," Quatre reiterated as Heero pushed into the doorway as well. "Trowa's an expert at infiltration and if I must step in at some point, it wouldn't be completely unexpected. My family has business in the area that I can fall back on as an excuse. You have nothing."

"I have an interest to protect," Heero maintained.

"You are being obstinate."

"I am coming along, like it or not."

"He could be a valet," Trowa suggested. "Dat would be _credible_."

"Yes! You're brilliant! That would work, wouldn't it?"

Quatre met Trowa's adoring gaze as Wufei was joining them on the porch. Wufei blushed to remember the two men's first meeting at about this same spot. It had been the most adolescent love at first sight.

"You could have suggested that earlier," Heero complained.

Trowa narrowed his eyes defensively. "It'll mean more trouble, more risk. You're not an actor."

Problem solved, partly, and Wufei did not think Quatre wanted another argument to erupt.

"He'll need instruction. Winner can explain how he should behave to be believable," Wufei suggested.

"What do you mean?" Heero's expression couldn't get any darker, Wufei thought.

"Dat, fo starters. Valets don't ask too many questions."

"That is true," Quatre agreed. "And don't stare directly in anyone's eyes, Heero. Try to look…"

"Subservient. You might as well ask him to kiss Khushrenada's feet. He'll blow his cover and ours." Wufei felt the Cajun's hand squeeze his shoulder.

"Give him de benefit o' de doubt," Trowa advised.

"I can do this!"

Winner sighed. "I don't suppose there's any stopping you, is there, and I should just make the best of it?"

"Get on with it," Heero grumbled.

"Do we have time for all this?" Wufei asked.

"Give me fifteen minutes."

One curt nod from Heero, and Quatre led him into the bedroom for packing and deportment instruction. Two bags rested on the bed, one larger than the other. Wufei leaned on the doorframe, listening.

"Heero! You already packed to go, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Quatre shook his head. "Not that I blame you for wanting to protect Duo, but you endanger his success just by being there."

"I will not fail. I can look…meek. I'll lay out his clothes and help him with his bath."

A flicker of smile passed over Heero's lips. Wufei did not want to imagine the two men bathing together, especially since he wanted a turn at their new soaking tub and felt it mandatory not to harbor terrible images, which might mar that experience. While clearing his mind of all thoughts, he missed most of Quatre's instructions to Heero.

"…and do what the head man does. Listen to the help and use the back stairs… Keep your eyes averted, eat in the kitchen—"

"It will only be the two days." Heero snatched up the bags, flinging them over his shoulders, and marched out the doorway. "Move it, Chang."

_Two days_.

"Two, after you get there." Wufei watched as Quatre bit back whatever warnings or premonitions he might have had. A lot could happen in two days, but telling Heero that would not deter him, Wufei had to agree. "Help him, please," he said to Wufei as he passed.

"Of course."

"Okay, Heero, you can ask for my roan at the stable. Trowa and I are going by carriage and should arrive a day later."

From the window, Wufei watched as Heero mounted the buckskin loaned to Duo, which had been grazing in the back yard, inches from the precious garden. Wufei hoped he had not made a mistake by giving in to the stubborn river rat. _Would Maxwell be distracted by Yuy's presence or helped? _

At least Maxwell had eased off the L2 slang, Wufei mused, so Yuy had been a good influence on him. And together they were quite tolerable. None of that goo-goo eye stuff that Winner indulged in with the Cajun. The way Winner carried on around Barton made Duo and Heero appear perfectly respectable together.

A quiet shuffle of feet behind him alerted him of another's presence. He turned; glad to discover it was not Maxwell to tease him with his "I told ya so."

"You had no oder choice, mon ami. Dat's why I made dat suggestee-on."

"At the last minute."

"You would have had him come wid us. Wouldn't do to have him crowdin' up de carriage."

A wry smile stretched across Wufei's face. "Cagey devil."

"I didn't make I dis far in life on good looks alone, no?"

"Winner quite possibly might think differently."

"Dat's his right."

"Did you really stop smoking?"

"_Mais qui!_ Of course!" The taller Cajun leaned close and said in a low voice, "He does not like de taste of tobacco."

Wufei screwed up his face and drew back. "Perverted Cajun devil!" he spat, but that seemed to amuse Trowa to no end, sending him away chuckling.

(o)

Wufei riveted his black, beady eyes onto Duo. "At least _my_ woman stayed at home. She has confidence in my judgment and has faith in my abilities to handle myself with honor."

"I am here and have excellent hearing, Chang." Heero heard him and got the message.

Wufei smiled, eyes scanning the road ahead. "Good."

He was an excellent equestrian; Yuy, he noted was fair and Maxwell worse. He trusted Heero to keep pace with him after that slight. Duo, he felt, would lag behind and drive his prickly boyfriend crazy, or put on a show himself. In any case, Wufei wanted to get to their inn for the night before dark. He wanted a good dinner, a good bed, and an uneventful night's sleep. The next few days would be trial enough. With a click of his tongue, he urged his steed to a faster pace.

He wondered how Treize would behave. In the past, his time spent at the governor's residence had been pleasant. The man had lavished attention on him, him, a mere outcast schoolteacher. Well, Khushrenada must have seen that he was a man of high caste in his clan. Well educated. A swordsman. A fighter of high virtue and standards—

Lost in thought, he had not noticed how far ahead he had ridden until he heard his name called out from some distance.

"Chang!"

"Problem, Yuy?" He did stop and wait for the other two men to catch up with him.

"You know damn well there's no need to knock ourselves out to reach the Wayside. Winner already reserved our rooms and ordered meals."

"Oh, really? Skipped my mind." He smiled. Yes. He could add accomplished horseman to his already lengthy list of accomplishments. And happily married. Very. All that remained was for him to fulfill this obligation to his friends (albeit, assisting in the stealing of plans from Khushrenada would be no small feat) and then he could relocate to Serendipity, take up his new law job, and begin a family. No need to put that off. He would need heirs. No reason not to get started on that immediately, since Hilde's earlier hints that she might have already been pregnant had turned out to be amiss. No need _at all _to delay, and a what a satisfying pastime!

With that pleasant dream to pass the time, Wufei led the three comrades along the winding roads, trails, passages, and, at times, fields until they arrived at the Wayside Inn.

When it looked as if Heero might forget his "place," Wufei reminded him. "Take the horses and bring in our bags."

The livid stare Heero leveled his way was reward enough. Duo muttered some mawkish malarkey, sending Heero plodding off outraged but silent, reins in hands.

"'Fei? Lay off, 'kay? I'm so tired I'm about to go tits up if I don't get something to eat."

Wufei closed his eyes in protection against the images Duo sent to his brain. _So much for his verbal skills improvement_. "He mocks my pride. He needs to be brought down a peg. He's been insufferable since he brought in all those gunslingers."

"You should know 'insufferable'," Duo muttered and led the way into the inn.

"I just said I did, that was my point!" About two steps inside the door Wufei nearly ran him down. "Don't stop in the middle of the doorway--!"

Duo's hand was on his chest, shoving him against the wall out of the direct line of sight.

"What is your problem, Maxwell? Get your hands off me!"

"Shh!" Duo hissed. "Know that cretin over by the window? He was at Merquise's party."

"Ah, the fag-hater with Relena. Titled man. A marquis. Weiridge."

"Weiridge, yeah."

A cold chill ran down Wufei's spine. "You don't suppose he's on his way to the governor's?"

"Shit." Duo spat.

"The man with him is Tsubarov, by the way, Sanc's master engineer. We were introduced on one of my visits."

"Bringing new diagrams? Updates to his engine designs? Protecting them? Better and better."

Wufei shrugged off Maxwell's grip and caught a young woman carrying a platter piled high with roast meat. "Is there a private dining room?"

"Yeah, it's reserved."

"For Master Winner?"

"Yeah, you him?"

_Close enough._ "Yes."

"Go in then turn right at the passage," the server said, and then took off to deliver her order to the dining room.

Heero met up with them, toting all the bags and an attitude. When Wufei caught his attention he said, "Good. Take those to our rooms then you can join us in the private dining room. Ask for the Winner party."

If Wufei's lofty tone bothered him, Heero did not let on. In fact, Heero's strength impressed him as he hefted all the bags and carried them to the innkeeper's desk without looking strained at all. He watched as Heero collected the room keys and hauled the entirety of their luggage up the stairs and out of his view.

It was not long after that the three weary travelers were diving into their own platters of food. A carved joint of meat, bowl of roasted potatoes, basket of warm bread and a dish of cool butter disappeared in minutes. Since Winner was paying, they polished off a pitcher of beer and two apple pies. Yes, Heero had seen the men, recognized the one, and was glad to know who the other was. Besides that and a few "pass the—" remarks, there were few other remarks until they had finished eating.

"Surely, Winner knew about the Marquis and Tsubarov—that they were invited to this party? It bothers me that he didn't warn us." Wufei folded his arms over his chest and stared at the candle flickering on the table. _Illuminate me._

"I'm thinking he didn't, or if he did he didn't think they'd both show up at the place the same time we did. I don't want to start doubting him at this point," Duo said.

"At this moment, we can only trust ourselves."

"I can't **believe**—" Duo lowered his voice a few notches, "that you said that. Quat's your friend. He was your only friend for the better part of a year, 'Fei. And, 'Ro! How long have you known the guy? The better part of most your life?"

"Yes, and he's intelligent, clever, and a schemer."

Duo shot Heero such a deadly look, Wufei thanked Buddha it hadn't been aimed at him. "He wouldn't put us in danger."

"Not until he had the plans safely in his hands," Heero tossed back. "Listen, it's highly unlikely that Winner is that deceitful and I don't think Trowa would stand for it if he tried something, but seeing those men here, at this time, is suspicious and inconvenient."

Wufei snorted back a laugh. "That's right. Put our trust in a Cajun gambler. I can sleep better relying on him to keep Winner honest."

"Stop it!" Duo hissed through clenched teeth. "They're our buds! We're tight!"

"What if we came up with a different strategy?" Wufei unfolded his arms and flattened his hands on the table. "Get it over with the first night, and then escape before the sun is up."

"And miss Quatre and Trowa?" Duo shook his head. "Now who's double crossing who?"

"We wouldn't put them into any danger. They arrive, see we've gone, they go. What is important to remember is that the situation has changed."

"How so do ya figure?" Duo asked, but as calm as he sounded, Wufei could see the tension in the jut of his jaw.

"The situation isn't as clear-cut as it was when it was only you and Wufei in his house," Heero pointed out. "Now there's two additional variables to consider. The longer we stay, the more likely we'll be caught. I think Wufei has a valid point."

"Listen to him." Wufei ventured a slight smile. He was a little too quick to claim a victory. For a moment, he was afraid Duo would march out of the room.

Duo shook his head vehemently. "I don't like it. I don't like changing plans without Quat knowing."

He held up one finger marking his space as he drew a deep breath, and no one interrupted. "But I _get_ that adding those dudes, particularly Tsubarov, into the mix fucks things up royal. Getting out of there fast sounds good. Finding the plans is another thing. There's no telling if just _saying _we'll find them and take them can _make _it happen. We may need 'Ro and Tro' to hunt around, if I can't find them right off."

"Well, there is that possibility—" Wufei began.

"**But**, say I do, well, maybe when we blow the joint we can head out on the road we know Quat' and Tro' are taking? That way we'll meet up with them sooner."

"In fact, that works out brilliantly," Wufei smiled. "If we pass off the plans to them, we haven't any incriminating evidence should Khushrenada or any of his dogs catch up to us."

"Yeah, well, I just want it understood I don't like the change and it makes me feel like a dirty, underhanded, _phutzer_. That's 'cheater' to you." Duo spat at Chang, and then slumping in his chair looking worn to the bone. "I'm worn out thinking about this crap.

"Our rooms are upstairs. I can show you where," Heero said.

"I can't move," Duo declared.

"Is that a request to be carried…sir?"

Duo's eyes twinkled. "Would you?"

Afraid Yuy might say "yes," Wufei stepped in to put a stop to the ridiculous notion. "No he wouldn't. No need to draw attention to yourselves. Let's just go. Move, Maxwell."

"This is your room," Heero opened the door for Wufei. His familiar travel bag was on the floor by the single bed. "First one up wakes the other."

Wufei agreed with an offhand gesture, entered the room, and closed the door to the outside world. He did not care what arrangements the other two had, as long as they were discrete. He kicked off his shoes and removed his clothes, taking special care folding his black pants and dark red Chinese tunic over the back of the chair for use the next day. He was not fond of non-L5 styled beds. He preferred his austere room with the mattress on the floor. Hilde had not complained either, although he supposed he should ask about her preferences some time. However, he was too tired to think any further about anything that night. After climbing onto the bed, he had barely drawn up the covers before falling instantly asleep.

(o)

Wufei had underestimated the others' endurance. He had been certain the night before that he would be the first to rise, the one to awaken the slothful pair. Instead, the room was still dark when he awoke, Yuy's hand shaking his shoulder.

"Chang?"

"What are you doing? It's still night."

"I thought you'd like a bath. Duo has finished. There's still time for you to clean up. You want to look your best for Khushrenada."

Yuy smiled. Wufei could have sworn it was a malevolent smile. "What? What do you know I don't, Yuy?"

"The serving class spreads rumors like wild fire."

"What did you hear, Yuy. Don't play games."

"I'm not a gamer, Chang. Marquis Weiridge and Tsubarov are sharing a room, as lovers. And Khushrenada's a cocksucking hedonist." His face wore a grim-edged smile. "You might want that bath, while it's still hot."

If Wufei had not been looking forward to the party before, he was dreading it now. "Yes. Thanks."

Yuy left and Wufei washed up quickly. He returned to his room, dressed swiftly, and had time to pack his few belongings just as someone knocked on his door.

"Ready? I'll saddle the horses and secure the baggage after breakfast," Yuy told him.

Not that Wufei had any appetite. He crammed some food into his body without attention to detail, like what it was or how it tasted. Everything tasted like dust. The sooner the entire fiasco was over the better. He wished Yuy had not told him what he had. He would have preferred complete ignorance. No, that was not true, but he wished the situation were different. He decided not to think about Treize or self-indulgent perverts.

Going through the motions without thought was the best way to get through this, Wufei felt. He let Heero do most of the work getting them on the road, and traveled in silence, meditating, putting himself in a better place.

How he wished he were back home with his Hilde! The morning sun would just be streaming through the deep-set trefoil side windows, turning the stained glass to jeweled portraits. Above the windows, broad rays of sunlight would be tracing the heavy-timbered roof structure as it glowed through the triangular dormers. He pictured her standing there, sheeted with light, wanting him, and held on to that image.

This time next week, he would be teaching the schoolchildren of Sublimity their letters and numbers. That seemed magnificently agreeable to Wufei, considering what he was about to endure. He hadn't found a replacement for the teaching position, yet. And there was his law office to establish in Serendipity! He had far more important work to be doing that this. Wufei nearly turned his horse around and raced home and would have had he not been an honorable man.

The ride to the governor's mansion took five hours and felt like five years. It certainly took five years off his life, Wufei thought sullenly. If the ride had not set his mood plummeting, the look of the estate did; in fact, a pall settled over the entire group.

An old iron gate flanked by stubby pillars gaped open as they passed a gatehouse, apparently tenanted. The main house was manorial, but not at all as impressive as Winner's Watergardens or even Zech's fortress. Governor Khushrenada's place had taken its look from the murky pools of rainwater lingering on either side of the overgrown drive. The grounds were not impressive, merely brooding, nor was the house—a flat-footed, slate-roofed, dark structure whose tall windows were neither leaded nor firelit, nor hung with any curtain that drew back and quickly fell again at the sight of them.

"Damn, this place is hurtin' for some lovin'," Duo said.

"That's an understatement. I thought Zechs lived in a dank, stone stronghold. It looks like a hunting lodge compared to this—"

Wufei did not know if Heero was at a loss for descriptive words or if he just left off, enough said. The ivy was shocking red against the dusky grey walls and it was everywhere. It made him think of blood on a gentleman's suit. How apropos!

"This place is crawling with ivy crap. He must be some psycho nutcase to live here, that's all I can say. He never seemed half-crocked to you, 'Fei?"

"I was here in summer. When it wasn't so overgrown… or depressing." Wufei had nothing to say about the man. _Would he be able to look him in the eye after what Heero had told him? Had their fencing matches been sexual overtures and he completely unaware, the older man's interests perverted in that way? _"I feel ill."

"Stop ruminating then," Heero said.

_Surely Yuy hadn't chosen that word deliberately to make him think of his digestion? _

"This is your chance to even the score," Heero continued.

_That was a refreshing angle._ "Yes, thank you."

"You got some of that peppermint tea stuff in you medicine kit? I wouldn't mind some," Duo asked.

"I'm not making tea!" Wufei said, sounding more short-tempered than he had intended. "I have some candied ginger which works as well. I'll get it out when we unload our baggage."

He met Yuy's narrowed gaze and then caught Maxwell's pained one. "Are we set on what we are going to do?"

Duo's eyes cleared and took on a hard edge, the one Wufei was looking for. "You keep Treize off my ass and I'll get the goods. You can count on it," Duo said.

Heero fisted his hands. "We will do that."

"I can distract him, it's the other guests I'm less certain of," Wufei said.

"I'll serve as decoy when needed," Heero put in, "and go with our plan. If all goes well, we'll be gone before Winner and Barton show up and save them the trouble. We'll all get out."

Duo nodded curtly, but Wufei wanted the last word. "I only ask that Maxwell watch his mouth."

"You watch my back and leave me to handle my mouth!"

Heero shoved them both, hard, "Let it go." He took the horses and bags and set off in the direction of the stables.

(o)

Why did Trowa Barton like working with the most dangerous cats in the world? Why had Duo wanted to be a lion-tamer? Wufei could not have explained the other men's aspirations, but he had his first inkling the moment he and Duo stepped over the threshold.

Entering Khushrenada's hold was like entering the lion's den. He felt the pent-up energy inside, struggling, wanting to break free, and rend the territorial invaders to shreds. Wufei wanted nothing less than to draw his sword and meet it head on. He wanted to best the man lording over it all.

"Where's the governor?" he snarled at the doorman.

The dour-faced man snapped to attention. "He is greeting company in the drawing room."

"Right."

"He asked me to bring Mr. Chang and Lord Maxwell immediately."

"Right."

"This way, then."

As we stepped into the drawing room, Wufei heard Duo gasp and hoped to Buddha that he didn't forget himself and embarrass them both or, worse yet, blow his cover. He stomped on Duo's shiny-booted foot for effect.

"Geez, 'Fei. Look at this place," he hissed through clenched teeth.

The floor, itself a masterpiece of polished parquetry, was covered with a white, gold and amber carpet. The one wall not paneled in polished cherry was pierced by three doors leading to the outside gloom.

Wufei caught Duo by the elbow. The doors, surrounds, and entablature rich in gold leaf and the wall hung with engraved mirrors nearly floored Maxwell.

They walked pass two display cabinets holding a collection of the latest _Fabergé_, miniature animals, human figures, all carved from gemstones and jade, snuffboxes, and three Imperial Eggs.

The rich amused Wufei. Winner maintained his family's Watergardens estate with loving memory of his father. Whether or not he prized the priceless paintings and furniture, he knew his father had, and as tribute, changed only the few rooms he personally used.

Zechs neglected his ancient hilltop fortress, brimming with countless, moldering family treasures, preferring the company of soldiers at his river cottage.

But this man cherished his collections and expanded them, which had to cost a mint.

"Your guests, sir," the butler announced.

Treize Khushrenada held court, pouring coffee from his hand-painted Romefeller service into Meissen cups, and offering vintage cigars from sterling silver, cedar-lined cigar boxes. On the drinks tables, Waterford crystal decanters held brandy, port and whiskey for those who wanted it.

"Gentlemen! Relax from your journey. Dinner will be served shortly." Treize held out a hand, claws retracted, and smiled, a hunk of his leonine mane falling boyishly over one eyebrow.

"You sure do okay on a governor's stipend!" Maxwell said in a voice loud enough to shatter the delicate porcelain.

Wufei groaned and wished to disappear, and not for the last time.

Their host thought this was wildly funny and drew them into the room, laughing. He topped off the coffee with a generous dash brandy, and pushed a coffee cup into first Duo then Wufei's hands.

They exchanged pleasantries, mentioned the ride, the weather, and finished off the coffee. It was very good, Wufei thought, and he rarely drank coffee. Treize moved on to glittering decanters, and poured amber drinks.

Wufei eyed Maxwell. So far, so good. And then, Duo chuckled.

"So, this Cajun dude I know told me this joke," Maxwell began.

"D-Lord Maxwell, I don't think that would be… suitable—" Wufei tried.

"Oh, I don't think the gov'nor here minds a rauchy joke, am I right?"

Treize's smile turned feral. "Please, share."

"All right! So, a dude walks into a bar carrying an alligator the size of… that jug over there."

Wufei sighed. Duo was referring to the largest of a pair of delicate Chinese vases the likes of which Wufei had never before seen except as holy relics in L5 temples. All that reduced to the monosyllabic_ "jug."_

"The bartender says, 'What do think you're doing? Get that goddamn thing out of here. I don't allow pets in my establishment.' Well, the dude tries to explain. 'Look, he won't cause any trouble. He's well trained and I'll prove it.'"

Wufei dared to look Treize in the eye, but the man was openly admiring Duo as he strutted about the room, oblivious.

"So, the dude proceeds to put the alligator on the bar and says, 'open.' The alligator open its mouth and you can see all of its razor sharp teeth. 'Now watch this,' he says and proceeds to open his pants and pull out his cock and balls and lay them gently onto the alligator's teeth."

Wufei blanched to the color of pale cream. Maxwell was going to get them all killed. He knew it. It would all be up to him to save the mission. And Heero.

_Damn._

Wufei wondered how soon Yuy could show up and clam up The Mouth, which lead to the alligator's mouth and the colorful picture that made. He took a long drink and felt the burn torch the image in his brain.

"He then orders a beer and proceeds to drink it. All the while, the alligator keeps its mouth open and nothing happens. After finishing the beer the dude carefully puts his family jewels back into his pants."

Duo shot back the rest of his drink, which had to be no less than a full ounce of liquor—and on an empty stomach! Wufei remained motionless, afraid he might strangle Duo if he dared move.

"Good stuff!" Duo declared.

Wufei guessed that he had swallowed a week's wages of the stuff, and then sipped a bit more of his own to deaden his nerves.

"Okay, so then this dude orders the alligator 'close,' and the alligator closes its mouth. 'You see? He's perfectly trained. He would do that for anybody.' The dude looks around. 'Does anyone want to try?' the dude asks. His eyes land on a drunk who's sitting nearby. The drunk looks up at him and says—"

The governor interrupted him with an upraised hand. "Let me guess? The man says that he would be happy to try, but he isn't certain he can keep his mouth open that long."

Duo, aghast, said, "You heard it before?"

"Young man, sometimes I think that there is nothing new under the sun, nothing I haven't heard. Or done."

"Oh, well, I'll have to try harder then."

The feral grin returned. "Oh, I expect you to."

Wufei credited Duo with his courage at that moment. He did not back down. He stretched, pretending to be completely at ease.

"I could use something to eat before I fall on my ass. We waitin' for anyone else?"

"Not for dinner. The other guests should arrive…later. Let's see what the cook has set out for us tonight."

Out of the lion's den and into his gaping maws— that's how Wufei felt at the moment.

When the mood was on him, Treize dined in the manner of an Emperor; or at least, how Wufei imagined one would dine. He filled his Regency dining room with silver, crystal and china that had seen service, or so he insisted, in Sanc Royal and Imperial palaces.

Duo rubbed his hands together, eyeing the table with pleasure. "Just in time. Hey, look at that! Is it duck? Man, that is deluxe."

Wufei stiffened and held his eyes to his plate. He not want to see scornful glances cast his way. But he guessed the reaction wrong and heard Treize chuckle.

"You are an amusing man, Lord Maxwell."

A small army of butlers and footmen jumped to assist Wufei and Duo as they dined in splendor, eating superbly cooked food prepared by an ancient crone, who had been with the governor for more years than either of them would admit to.

Happily, Heero showed up to personally serve Master Maxwell at the dinner table. Wufei hoped the poor man had grabbed a bit to eat himself. He didn't show any discomfort, but then he rarely did.

While serving the last course, Heero leaned between Wufei and Duo and whispered, "first floor, strategy room next to office."

Wufei wondered how Yuy ascertained Tsubarov's workroom, or the storage space, so quickly. Maybe the help wasn't so loyal to the governor as he would want. Then he noticed Heero's hand slide over Duo's, lingering longer than necessary, and the two men exchange meaningful looks, Heero's in no way demure.

He set down his fork and knife and snapped away his hands before Heero could touch him. Whatever the game, Wufei wanted no part of it. There was no way Khushrenada had missed that show Heero put on—truly putting the "service" into servant.

As the servants whisked away the last dishes, the stone-faced butler entered the room and strode directly to the governor. He leaned into Khushrenada's ear and whispered. The governor nodded.

"Thank you. We'll all gather in the L3 Reception room in a few minutes," he told his butler then shared with the rest of us, "We are done here, aren't we? I have a small number of associates interested in meeting a titled man from L2."

Wufei had observed on his previous visits that , when Treize Khushrenada wished to really impress, he opened what he called the L3 Reception room, a thirty-foot square gem of a room. Three of the four walls had been paneled in tulipwood imported from the L3 sector, carved, stained, lacquered and varnished to resemble amber, running the spectrum of yellow, from smoky topaz, to a light lemon. Master artisans had wonderfully carved all the pilasters, moldings, and frieze. Eight carved panels that made up each wall, each panel a masterpiece representing, in stylized relief, different allegories of the five senses, festooned carvings of Imperial and Royal eagles, graceful, amber-like engravings, whimsical patterns of leaves and heraldic emblems, gem-like, graceful carvings, and flowers so detailed and life-like that they lacked only color to bring them to life.

Duo poked at a picture framed in gilt. "This you?"

"Yes. I was a fencer in my youth."

"I could be completely off base here, but that hair is pretty distinctive, despite the mask. That's Zechs right?"

"I believe you are right."

"So you boys were fencers, practicing your thrusts and parries while your friends were slumped before their pianos?"

The governor smiled and moved closer to Duo. Close enough to overpower Duo with his rose-scented cologne, if he drew a deep enough breath. "We were hot-blooded, doomed to a military life soon after that was painted."

Wufei lengthened his stride, entering the room ahead of his host. _Dear Buddha, Yuy had been right about the man._

He had witnessed Treize marking out his territory with his own eyes. The man wanted Maxwell. Heero's actions in the dining room were enough to clue the man in on Duo's proclivities, if Winner's remarks at his party hadn't been convincing enough.

_Maxwell,_ Wufei sighed, w_hat had he gotten himself into?_ He could not think of any more incongruent a combination in the kingdom: Maxwell in the governor's finest reception room with the governor licking his chops. And that wasn't all. It was no surprise that among the newcomers were Tsubarov and Marquis Weiridge. How he disliked these men and parties!

He characterized the event as violence muffled by the most exquisite and civilized conversation.

"Lord Terrance's fortune. It was considerable," Weiridge said, while hiding a yawn.

"But they met by accident."

"For heaven's sakes! One can meet by accident and carry on by design."

"True." Tsubarov smiled, and then both men chuckled.

Wufei turned away wishing to be done with the job. He felt out of sorts, yearning for home and Hilde. Duo, on the other hand actually appeared to be in his element, strutting about, in spite of how he oughtn't to fit in. _Like we had undergone a role-reversal of some sort,_ Wufei mused only to have his thoughts interrupted by Duo's raised voice nearby.

"Yeah, like, why can't they have homosexuals in the army? Personally, I think they are just afraid of a thousand guys with guns going, 'Who'd you call a faggot?'"

_Oh dear._

"Say, Gov', I need ta take a leak. Where's the head?"

"The…? Just step outside the room and a servant will direct you."

Duo shot Treize a smile and said with an elaborate shrug, "Sure thing."

And Treize smiled in return.

Wufei's unease grew, if that was possible.

No sooner had Maxwell disappeared, then the last person Wufei expected to see waltzed into the grand L3 Reception room. The governor turned and his smiled faltered. It must have been the last person he had expected as well.

_Could that mean his showing up early like this was a good thing? _Wufei wasn't sure.

"Quatre Winner, how pleasant a surprise," Treize said.

"I was in the area and my carriage broke down. Something gone wrong with the harness. Your stable man is looking into it. It is kind of you to include me in your little soiree tonight."

"Of course," the governor said, not very cordially.

Wufei's head was swimming with questions. He fished around for one as he snagged Winner by the arm. "What are you doing here early?"

"We noticed them," he nodded toward the undesirable guests, "at the inn, preparing to leave, and thought you guys could use the extra backup."

Wondering if he should believe that, Wufei hooked another question. "Where's Trowa?"

"My faithful footman? Seeing to the horses, probably." Winner lowered his voice and said, "Looking for Heero." He smiled and said, not caring who overheard him this time. "And you should see him in livery; he has the legs for it!"

Winner had all the right answers, but were they the truth? Wufei could not shed the feeling that something was fishy. No, he had the disturbing feeling that he had been taken in-- hook, line, and sinker. When Khushrenada strode from the room, Wufei knew he should follow. Winner was an unknown, but Maxwell with that man in pursuit was his responsibility.

End Chapter 21


	22. Chapter 22

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Two **

POV changes with the scene, mostly Duo

* * *

Duo looked both ways, saw no one, and then took off in the direction of the governor's office. He could check out the "strategy room" next, if there was time, he decided, and silently thanked Heero for the information.

Silent as a tomb. When Duo stuck his head past the door labeled with a gilt plaque: "His Honorable Governor Treize Khushrenada", there was no one inside. He had only minutes, he guessed, until someone would find him. Leaving the door ajar might lead someone to think he happened inside by accident. Maybe.

He made his way across the empty office and around behind the desk, into Treize's realm. He found a candle and match and lit it. One quick glance told him nothing. He didn't expect to find what he wanted sitting out in plain sight, and it wasn't. The plans would be locked up, hidden away, maybe in the room next door.

_What had Heero called it? The Strategy Room_.

What Duo was looking for in the office was a key, a safe, a hidden hideaway. He opened the first of three drawers in a row in the desk, and found it full of officialdom: health code inspections, party invitations, obligatory functions. Nothing that applied to steam engine plans.

Two other drawers were equally useless from a mystery-solving point of view, though it was interesting to note the number of empty bottles of plum Schnapps a drawer could hold.

His hands flew under the edge of the desk, feeling for a latch. He found one that opened a drawer, a firearm within which was very dusty, but also very loaded.

Stacks of books and papers tied together in albums filled the bookcase. One book was hollow with a key, which he pocketed. The lower shelf stored oversized books and manuals—and, more importantly, maps, which he thumbed through quickly. One titled "Estate and Surrounds" caught his attention and another entitled "Environs" had a line drawing of the area on its cover. He grabbed both and tucked them into his boots.

With only a few minutes, at best, to complete his search, Duo examined the picture frames—no hidden safes—and the wood parquetry for loose floorboards or moving walls. _The key must fit something_, he thought, although it might not be in this room. For a second, he thought he'd found a notch in the chair railing which moved, but decided it must have been just a damaged piece.

Then his eye caught the play of light on the floor beneath, the unevenness of the wood slats. He was on his knees instantly, prying along the edges with a knife blade. The slat gave way revealing a lever mounted in the floor. As Duo grabbed hold and pulled, he heard footfalls outside the door.

"Drat!" he grumbled and slapped the board back into place.

With one last dash to the bookshelf, he seized the first book he could reach, opened it to the middle, and posed. The door opened all the way.

"A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective," he read. "Good advice. What the hell book is this?"

Duo checked the chapter title, which read: "Sun-Tzu, The Art of War, Strategic Assessments Victory."

"Lord Maxwell? This is my office, not the WC." Khushrenada cleared his throat. "My servants must have led you astray."

"Yeah, sorry. I just like to snoop around. This place is awesome, the art and all. Door wasn't locked."

"Don't see much art in your part of the country?"

"Not like this!"

Treize looked pleased by the flattery. Duo waved the dog-eared book at the governor and caught sight of Wufei just outside the door.

"Read this much?"

"Yes. You know, L—may I call you Duo? Good. I don't care if you are titled or not. I find you amusing and attractive. To quote Sun-Tzu, 'All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.' I have an idea."

Duo had no desire to know about Treize's ideas—they couldn't be good for him. "You trying to bait _me?_ That mean I'm the enemy here?"

"Oh, no, ho, ho…" Treize chuckled, tying to sound reassuring, and failing from Duo's standpoint. Wufei's presence—now _that_ was reassuring!

On cue, Wufei entered the room. "Sun-Tzu also wrote: 'Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first of these factors is moral influence.' And, Governor Khushrenada, you have surrounded yourself with some unsavory people here tonight. I think Lord Maxwell and I shall retire early."

"Oh, no. This is all just too perfect. It's Chang Wufei. I always wanted a threesome with two lovely, lithesome boys."

_That was laying it flat out on the table,_ Duo thought! He coughed, choking, unable to swallow his pride easily, and watched for Wufei's explosive reaction.

Wufei was not a happy camper, Duo figured, by the way he aligned his back, tightening his Chinese jacket across the shoulders, and by the way his eyes slitted suspiciously. Still, his friend kept his composure. It was with measured words that he told Trieze, "I want nothing to do with threesomes or twosomes with anyone but Hilde, my wife."

Treize was displeased that Wufei had married; Duo could tell that by the way he straightened and his eyes darkened. "You owe me, little dragon."

"Owe you? I am indebted to no one!"

"You forget then that you lost the last match? You lost. You promised me a rematch."

"But that was fencing!" Wufei exploded angrily.

Treize laughed. "What did you think I was talking about?"

Wufei blushed brilliantly, made a scornful noise, and pursed his lips.

Duo tried to conjure up a mental picture of Treize, Wufei and himself in a _ménage a trois_, as Quatre had called it, but it wouldn't come. "Ah, I'm not great with a sword. Maybe you two boys should do the fight thing and I'll just meet up with you later, Kay?"

"Tch-tch." The governor shook his head disapprovingly, but he was not looking at Duo. "Is romance so repellent to you? And you call yourself a married man. I'm a married man with experience. Let me show you romance. I'll have one of the servants draw a bath strewn with rose petals."

"There is romance in the play of swords, don't you think?" Khushrenada asked.

Wufei shrank back, letting the offer sink in, and, Duo thought, studied the window too hard. Duo looked, too. Was he considering an escape plan? Okay, at this point Duo wasn't absolutely positive that the governor was coming on the them. Duo's powers of observation, his ability to read the body language of other people and deduce their intentions, especially bad ones, had saved his ass on many occasions. Nevertheless, this man was crafty and a first-rate actor. He was also charismatic, tall, imposing, self-assured, handsome... He decided that the window escape route looked pretty attractive at this point, too.

Wufei hardened his voice. "I accept. I left my sword at the entry."

"I'll have it brought along. Maybe that blue-eyed boy serving your friend at dinner would bring it along?"

"My valet? Sure, I thought I'd have him start me a bath." Duo felt the older man's eyes rake over his body, leaving no article of clothing intact. _That_ was creepy.

"That would be lovely. Have him ask for my rose soap."

"Rose? That's mighty generous of ya!"

"Not at all. I thought I'd join you later. It must take you hours to wash that hair alone."

EH! Warning! That, Duo knew, was no subtle hint. That was an overt offer of sex.

"He, heh, heh… Well, that's what my valet's there for, ya know?"

"You haven't seen the bathing facilities, have you? There is room for him as well."

As long as Heero was there, no hanky-panky was gonna happen, Duo was sure. There might be one drowned governor, though, so he needed Wufei to go along with the plan, absurd as it sounded.

Duo tried passing Wufei a silent okay, and he must have understood because he nodded curtly before saying, "I shall need a bath after the match as well."

Never had Duo loved Wufei more than at that moment. He would not let Duo face Khushrenada alone, not on his watch. Of course, Heero wouldn't be far away either. The governor, his arm draped over Wufei's shoulders companionably, grinned victoriously, and left Duo standing in the hall.

As Duo wondered how he was to call for Heero, a servant strode in his direction. Long silk-covered legs grew from pale green knee pants, and a closely fitted matching jacket with lemon trim hinted at a well-toned, wiry torso underneath. Duo licked his lips without thinking. Under the jaunty cap, under the curl of white ostrich feather, under the fall of golden-brown hair, were a pair of gleaming green eyes.

"Trowa!" Duo let out in a gasp.

"In de flesh. It looked bad fo' you, Quatre said. So we came early."

"Yeah, the gov' keeps some bad company. He's already made a move on me and Fei's keeping him busy and outta my way for a few minutes. Here."

Duo removed the maps. "See what you can make of these. Hidden rooms, escape routes, whatever. I gotta underground room to check out in the office here and Tsubarov's lace next door."

"Heero been in dere," he nodded to de chief engineer's room. "Picked up some metal gadgets and t'ings, but not de 'blueprints' dat Quatre wants."

"Great. Saves me time. I'll check it out if I get time. I gotta be back in a bathtub in a bit. You in touch with Heero?"

"I'm de go-between."

"Cool. Can you tell him to make up a bath. Khushrenada thinks he and Wufei are joining me."

"I'll pas dat along." Trowa grinned. "I d'ink Master Winner has o'der plans fo' de governor tonight."

"God, I hope so. Gotta go."

Closing the door this time as silently as he opened it, Duo returned to his loose floorboards. He discovered that sliding the loose piece of the paneling released the board, which he removed and set aside. When he yanked on the lever, the earth moved, well, a rectangle of the floor flipped up, a trapdoor in its upright position. It would be a nasty fall if he didn't watch himself, particularly since the stairs started down from the far end of the opening.

When he heard voices outside the office door, he froze. _Hide!_

He didn't even think "where?" there was nothing to do but grab at the visible knob of railing and skitter down the narrow stairway. He reached for the handle on the underside of the trap door, and pulled the floor over his head.

He was trapped in absolute blackness. A gust of escaping air blew out the candle above, he surmised. With hands splayed out in front of himself, eyes uselessly staring, Duo inched his way down the stairs to the dirt floor then across the unseen floor into the unseen black.

He smelled damp earth and felt a cold draft. There was a hard bang and a voice.

"Damnit! He rearranged his office again."

Duo froze, fingers twitching at the end out his outstretched arms.

"Light a candle."

"You light a candle."

Sudden light flowed down through the gaps around the trapdoor, streaming in to give a faint yellow-gray light to his surroundings. A rough stone wall stood directly in front of him, less that a foot from his fingers, which he now dropped to his sides. A long, low-ceiling room extended to his left, under the main room of the office. To his right, a gloomy blotch suggested a corridor beyond leading under the room next door, the Strategy Room.

Duo tiptoed toward that corridor.

Darkness. Almost total as before, except that when he looked back, he could see a rectangle of thin yellow lines up above in the black, outlining the trapdoor. A sound of voices came from up there.

_Were they saying something useful, _he wondered_? _

He wanted to hear what they had to say and he didn't want to get caught in total darkness, unable to find the staircase up and out_._ He skulked back to stand beneath that thin yellow rectangle overhead, and listened.

_What were they saying?_

At first, nothing; they seemed to have stopped talking just as he got there. Then all at once, the people up there began again to speak, muffled but understandable.

"What's that?"

"I'm leaving the governor a little present—updates to the plans, hopefully the final ones."

_That must be Tsubarov_, Duo thought.

"Surprising him, then?"

"Yes. Let this be a surprise for him. He says I'm behind schedule."

"You didn't tell him you brought a working model?"

"Not yet. I haven't had the chance. He's been so busy with his new playthings. I thought I give a little demo tomorrow afternoon out by the stables."

"Can't we bring it indoors?"

"No! You saw the thing! It's too heavy to move around for his convenience. Stable's good enough."

"Well, that's fine for tomorrow, but what about tonight? I'm so bored waiting for him and his fencing."

_And that must be Weiridge_, Duo thought.

"We can get the party rolling with Winner."

"Have you seen that leggy coach boy of his?"

"Have you seen Maxwell's valet?"

The two men laughed. "Easy game."

The voices faded, moving to the far end of the room and, Duo guessed, out the door.

A smile spread across Duo's face like a venomous snake, like death, a slow death. "Heero and Trowa… easy game? Oh, you will be disappointed, gents."

At least they left the candle lit. Duo leaped up the staircase and shouldered the trapdoor, which wouldn't budge. "Damnit anyway."

He clamored back to the dirt floor and inched about in the gloom until he ran into a stool. This he carried up the stairs and used it to wedge under the wood slats. Inch by inch, the door rose until he could jam an entire chair leg through. Down the stairs, he raced again to look for something else. This time he found a wooden crate, heavy and sturdy. Up again and with more heaving and swearing he worked the crate up and under the edge, wide enough for his slender body to slip through and out.

_All this trouble for a candle!_

And, sure enough, a fat envelope rested on the desk. He pinched the envelope and jammed it into his other boot. He adjusted the crate and better secured the trap door open, before slipping back though and down the stairs. With the light to see by, Duo could make some progress.

Duo knew basements. He remembered basements from L2, remembered that, all in all, it seemed to him worth the risk, and lit one little candle rather than stand and curse the darkness.

The candle created an effect very like the shadowed insubstantiality of the Kasbah club at midnight, or a drunken sailor's party when the captain was out of town. In its fretful murk, he could see rows of kegs:" beer kegs, wine kegs, whiskey kegs, and kegs marked in languages he couldn't read, but that had to contain exotic liquors. He wasn't sure , but it all looked like a bootlegging operation to him. He ripped off brand tags randomly and pocketed the evidence. Never knew when they might become handy. The place was also littered with broken chairs and tables. He carried the candle to the more promising corridor.

The cold air nearly snuffed out the flame. Even though he had entered another room bigger than a large closet, he could make out more corridor continuing on. He stuck his head into that opening and smelled the cold, dank smell of underground. The opening led down and out. Somewhere. Spider webs crisscrossed in a lacy veil, indicating no one had used the tunnel recently. He didn't have time to investigate that route and returned to the closet-sized room.

Halfway down one side wall stood a bookcase filled entirely with neatly filed, clearly labeled paper folders.

_Bingo! Okay, that was more like it!_

Duo settled himself in front of the case and let his fingers do the walking among the folder tags, stopping when he came to "Engine- Original." The file was a full inch thick. He flipped through and saw drawings of parts, gears, "turbine," "furnace." Yeah, it sounded right. He peeled off his fitted coat and lay it flat on the floor, opening it wide, and then removed files and piled them in the center. He cleaned out everything that seemed relevant and that he would be able to carry.

_How long had he been down here, _he wondered_? Time to get outta here!_

After folding up the ends of the coat and tying the arms tightly over the front to hold it together, he straightened himself, cocked an ear, and listened.

Nothing. He hefted his package and jogged back to the staircase. When he looked over toward the stairs, he could see no lines of yellow light, which was good. He had the candle. No one had gone back into the room. Since he'd left the trapdoor open, that was a very good thing, but he hadn't wanted to chance getting stuck underground again. Life often came down to a simple balance of risks.

He made short work of getting his prize up and out, kicking the stool and box back down into the basement, closing the trapdoor, replacing the candle, and checking once more for signs of his activities he might have left. Satisfied that everything was okay, he blew out the candle and carried his coat out of the room and into the hall, where he was jostled in the hall and nearly ran into a servant.

"Your bath is getting cold."

_Heero._ Duo took a deep breath and in an off-hand tone said, "Yeah, here, carry my coat will ya?"

He took the coat, eyes widening fleetingly at the weight. "I'll take this to remove the spot on the collar."

"Yeah, good idea. My boots'll need polishing, too. Maybe later."

Duo could tell Heero was faking composure and smiled to reassure him. "Have you and—Tro' ?"

"Met? Yes. Those…items… were very useful."

"We have everything. Decide on a route." Duo looked around, and then whispered, "I found an underground tunnel that might lead out."

"I will check it out."

"And get Trowa to check out the stable. Tsubarov brought a demo."

Duo could feel the grin when Heero whispered, "You know I love you, master."

"I love the way you say that."

(o)

Quatre stood on the fringes of the party, watching Tsubarov and Weinridge and commenting on his observations to Trowa. "Men of Treize's type draw notice by strewing money around like lions spray their urine to lure females."

Trowa cleared his throat. "So, how do we go 'bout distracting deez men?" Trowa asked Quatre.

"We dance with them."

Trowa raised an eyebrow in question. "It is good dat you and I have been practicing."

"Speak lots of French. That impresses them, _Triton_. Yes, I decided to use that name. Does it make it easier to play the role?"

"But, of course."

Quatre leaned into him to say privately, "You look so good in satin. You know, it feels like skin."

"I will try not to dink o'dat when dey touch me den."

That startled Quatre and made him think, really think about what he had planned to do, how he and Trowa were to distract these men, giving Duo all the time he needed to get the plans and get out. Something deep inside him cringed and he knew Trowa was too important to him, that his feelings counted more than even this mission, and that he could not continue on and exploit him, especially with men such as these. His eyes searched the handsome face, noting the faint freckles running up under his long bangs, the hint of beard, and the lips he wanted so very much to claim at that moment. This man was his heart's desire, not a tool or a toy.

"This is wrong. I don't want them to touch you. In fact, go now. Go to my room and stay there. I've dealt with worse in the past, I can get everything accomplished without you; better, in fact, knowing you're safe, and—"

"Knowin' you don't wan' me to do dis," Trowa said, holding his lover's gaze and smiling a fraction. "Tells me how much you care 'bout dis Cajun gambler. It means a lot to me, I wan' you to know, but… I'm here to watch over you now. I don't wan' doze men messin' with my man."

"Oh," Quatre's eyes glittered with tears. "I do love you."

"Yeah, me too." His vice caught in his throat and threatened to choke up entirely if those beautiful eyes didn't look away. He glanced askance to the doorway, considering for a moment escaping this insanity, taking his lover away. But there was Duo and Wufei facing Treize Khushrenada and so many others counting on Quatre and him to play their parts.

"I will hate this," Quatre said.

"Me, too, _mon cher_." Trowa dipped his chin and hardened his resolve. "So let's get dis over wid befo' dey go lookin' fo' Maxwell."

As they approached the knot of men, drinks and glassware, their conversation ended. Quatre and Trowa stood back to watch in morbid fascination while Weiridge messed with a pair of glasses. He appeared to be doing everything possible with them, like a man with too many choices and no taste of self-control, which he was. He had already sluiced in some clear liquid, and now he was adding some red liquid and some yellow liquid and some blue liquid and some green fluid, all of them channeling around through the differing layers of density and combining to form pools that looked like a test you didn't want the results of.

Weiridge divided the concoction between the two gasses, dribbling much of it on the tabletop, and held up his glass in a toast. "To crime."

"Without punishment," Tsubarov amended.

"We should get started before they drink much of that," Quatre whispered.

Trowa stepped forward, saying to Tsubarov's back, "_Bonsoir," _andforcing the engineer to swivel his head and smile upon him. He was short, whippet-thin, in his mid thirties.

Quatre made a similar move on the other man. 'Weiridge. It's been weeks."

"Well, you've been invisible," Weiridge said, as he showed Tsubarov an elaborate shoulder shrug, head shake, eyebrow waggle, and torso twist, to indicate that he didn't know so far exactly what was going on, but it didn't seem to include any imminent threat.

Tsubarov could not have cared less, so absorbed was he in the attentive youth nearby. "You are new," Tsubarov observed. His teeth were very white but very small, making Trowa think of a fox when he smiled.

"I am new _here_," Trowa said.

The man chuckled; the youth dressed as a footman in L3-styled livery was amusing. "I'm called Tsubarov."

"Triton." Trowa said. "_Aimes-tu danser_?"

"Dance? Me? Perhaps," the man said, with his fox smile.

"I'll let you lead, if you want," Trowa said, with a carnivorous smile of his own.

Tsubarov took the lead, but he could not measure up to the acrobatic clown's light step and athletic moves. His guiding hand slipped lower until he was fondling the taut fabric playing over Triton's ass.

Trowa grit his teeth and on a turn caught Quatre frowning in earnest his way. He mouthed, "okay," although it wasn't, and turned to the side, but not before he glimpsed the fag-hater nip his lover's neck.

"Watch your grip, coach boy. Save it for later, when you're biting my pillows."

Trowa eased up where he had seized hold of his dance partner's shoulder, "I am his footman. My apologies." His words came out clipped and voice ice-cold, but he never miss-stepped. Let the man dream of what would never be his.

"Footman? Ah, of course Winner would have a tall, good-looking boy to show off. He always has gone in for status symbols; collecting inessentials is a luxury only a few can afford. Usually, he's surrounded by those dark lads from L4. I don't see any of them about today."

Trowa surmised the man was fishing for information and considered what he'd tell him next and pushed his Cajun accent further to the L3 French end of the spectrum. "In de carriage, no Maguanacs were _present_. But… we are late arriving at our _destination_. Dere's no telling how many may be on the way by now."

The man's face drained of color and Trowa knew he'd hit the right nail on the head, the one that fastened coffins. The hand on his as crept up to a safer location on his hip. Trowa hoped that Quatre would have less to distract him now. He, however, had to endure the marquise wrapping Quatre in afar too-intimate embrace.

How he wished he could be the one to hold Quatre and dance! The string quartet was excellent. The only sour note was the company.

Trowa caught Quatre's bright blue eyes, and for an instant hung on long enough to exchange silent reassurances. Quatre laughed, or pretended amusement at whatever inanities Weiridge muttered, severing the connection.

"Sorry," Tsubarov grunted after a particularly egregious foot mashing.

Trowa's step faltered and smiled weakly. Quatre never tread upon his toes. He watched his lover's dexterous, graceful movements and sighed. He never abused his body in anyway. Never. Trowa never desired a man before Quatre. Sex, but not the man. Quatre was his and deep-seated needs he didn't need to understand drove him to mark his man.

The beautiful blond with the brilliant mind was only a waltz step away.

Trowa was stronger than the skinny little fox, Tsubarov. He forced his dance partner closer to the other pair. When he was only an arm's length away, Trowa reached out, clutched Quatre by the shoulder, dragging him into a one-armed embrace, ignoring the other two men wrapped around them, and kissed his lover on the lips.

Quatre kissed back, reaching out and grasping Trowa at the waist. They released one another the next instant, whirling apart.

Weiridge and Tsubarov coughed and wheezed a little, but we're not shocked or not shocked for long. They seemed more to take it as a sign that the good times were about to roll.

"Brazen boy you have there, Winner."

"Yes, he's always clowning around. You should see him with a whip."

The marquise turned to ooze. "Oh!"

(o)

The bath was a cavernous tiled lined room, steam-filled, and smelling of roses. Wufei wanted nothing more than to be riding away from this nightmare about to unfold.

"Wufei," Treize said in a voice like velvet. "You are exquisite. My China doll. You were a prince and turned down the hand of a princess to become a school teacher in an obscure part of the country."

As caresses ran across his bared shoulders and wet kisses fluttered from his back up his neck, Wufei cringed with revulsion.

"Trembling my China dragon? I shall drive you crazy tonight."

Wufei nearly vomited, but he had more control that that over his body.

"… I could make you a prince again…"

Wufei blocked the horrible images from his mind and he tried to shut out the sounds of that voice uttering those unwanted words with recollections of home and Hilde. "By my ancestors…" he whispered.

"… Do you know how long I've wanted you? I thought you were so young when I first set eyes on you at the Watergardens, but that was an illusion. You were simply small of stature… Fencing as foreplay for fighting men, don't you agree?"

_NO! _Wufei screamed in his head. Treize had been his mentor, advisor, and friend. It had been an honorable relationship. _Honorable!_

Treize yanked off the ribbon holding Wufei's slicked-back hair in place. "Better," he said, as he raked fingers through the shiny black hair, freeing it to fall loose and frame the younger man's face. "Finish getting undressed and join me."

Treize tossed his own jacket and shirt onto a bench, dropping his drawers nearby, while Wufei turned his back to him and removed his own. Wufei grabbed a large, white towel and wrapped it about his hips as quickly as possible, the sound of splashing in the near distance.

Treize stretched lazily into his side of the huge tub, a well-fed, extremely comfortable large wet cat. "We're in for some good fun. Fuck and frolic, a little time out from the cares of everyday life."

Wufei stared at him. "_What_ did you say?"

"Frolic," he said, and beamed at him, the cat with the canary feather in the corner of his mouth.

"Fencing," Wufei said with a disgusted snort, distracted, but his agenda would not let him dwell on a passing bewilderment. "I didn't realize how out of practice I had gotten."

"You will beat me sometime, but I'm a wily old soldier." Treize started singing, crooning with a voice like morphine-laced molasses. "Life can be so gra-aand…"

Eyes closed and wishing his ears had lids as well helped Wufei's concentration. He whispered a mantra, "Protect me from dishonor to my clan. My body is just a shell; he can do my soul no harm."

"It's all because of you-who-who-whoooo, who-who-whoooooooo…" Treize paused in his yodel. "Get in the water."

Wufei clenched his towel one last time, looked to the closed door, and then released his hold, freeing the cloth to fall to his feet and expose his privates known only to himself, his Hilde, and possibly his nanny.

The door flew open, crashing into the opposite wall. "Hey, is this the place?"

Never before had Wufei welcomed the Maxwell bellow as he did at that moment. He swept up the towel and tucked it about him. "It's about time you made it."

(o)

Duo entered the bathing room with all the bonhomie of a carefree man on vacation. Wufei, on the other hand was standing a little hunched over, a death-grip on the towel concealing his lower body, and giving Duo that thousand-yard stare that suggests therapy is no longer an option.

"Hey, I fell asleep, what can I say? The ride wore me out and then the drink and top it off with the loads of food… Is that you in the fog, gov'nor?"

"Lord… Duo? At last!"

"You got other people back there?"

"No, strip down and come on in. Come here! Did you bring your half-breed?"

"My, what?"

"Your valet. His eyes, he looks Chinese, but only a fragment. Now, my little dragon prince is a pure breed, aren't you?"

_Heero? Half-breed? _ Duo decided Treize was on a bender having downed one too many brandy cocktails. "My valet was 'called to assist elsewhere,' his words."

Duo moved closer to the tub itself nearly touching the nearly naked Wufei, who was bristling with indignation.

"When'shegoingtogethere?" Chang hissed in his ear, running the words together so fast Duo couldn't parse the question immediately.

He removed his boots, careful not to reveal any of the stolen papers still hidden inside them, and socks. "Dunno," he said, pitching his voice low.

While Wufei's attention was elsewhere, Treize caught the edge of Wufei's towel and whipped it off. "Now, climb in, my dragon!"

"Eek!" Wufei squeaked ( involuntarily, Duo guessed, because it was not how he imagined a dragon would sound) and obeyed the order with a hop and splash.

Duo had done a lot worse than this in his sordid past. Men often shared baths and the cities' bathhouses accommodated every pocketbook. If you had no money, you rendered services. He had performed to his personal limits and after meeting Howard and turning around his fortunes, he hadn't thought he'd have to stoop again.

He _would_ not. He figured between both Wufei and himself they could drown the larger man if they had to, but he really hoped it wouldn't come to that. That would so mess up the plans, and then Quatre would be disappointed. Besides, the governor might turn out to be a gentleman in the bath.

He could make up a better world, too.

"You naked yet, Lord Duuu-oh?"

"Ju-ust about," Duo sang out as he slipped off his pants and kicked them into the pile with his shirt and jacket. He thought about tying up his braid so it didn't get wet, but couldn't find a string or rope or… Wufei's ribbon would do, though. Thankful the steam acted like a veil to blur the view, he finished off his hair and climbed into the largest tub he had ever seen. White marble from here to eternity with gold fixtures and red rose petal floating; at least Duo _hoped_ that's what his foot was pushing aside.

"This is h-hot!" Duo shouted as he climbed over the edge.

Treize might or might not be dangerous, but the bath surely was! It might boil him like a little trout.

"Forgot about you skinny boys," Treize chuckled and poured in a pitcher of cooler water. It wasn't more than a drop in the ocean, but he seemed to think it was sufficient because he didn't offer to do more.

And like the ocean, the water deepened as Duo moved further in. If he wasn't poached to death he'd drown! He pawed about for a secure grip and found the carved lip of the tub. Below that, ringing the inside in short segments, was a narrow, smooth bench. Duo scooted closer to the governor than he liked in order to keep his head above water.

_Surely the man wouldn't let him drown!_

Wufei said nothing huddled as far away from the other two as possible. Duo thought he looked like part of the decorative trim, like a statue, he was so immobile. But not for long.

"I can hardly see you over there. Bring me the soap, will you little dragon? Here, I'll help." Treize hooked a foot around his leg and reeled him in.

His friend embodied misery. His hair, longer than Duo thought, hung limply on either side of his face and down his back to just past his shoulders. Duo couldn't help but find Wufei terribly attractive, but when he raised his head, Duo caught a fleeting look of anger, terror, then mortification. Then the black eyes closed, shutting off the humiliation of his body as the larger man drew him to his side.

Duo heard a hitch in Chang's breath, and thought his friend must have bit his tongue to stop himself from crying out. The ache in that sound nearly drove Duo out of the bath to find one of their swords, and drive it through the big brute's heart. Disgrace never wounded Maxwell that hard, but he knew how it would tear up a proud man like Wufei Chang. _Time to act like the friend he professed to be._

"Hey, gov, wanna back scrub? Turn 'round."

Treize released his toy and soaked up the view of Duo's sliver of a body stretching over the edge, reaching for the rough-looking sponge. "How thoughtful of you. Yes, that would be divine."

Duo dodged Treize's advances, like when he stretched his back and pushed into Duo, grinding into his groin. Duo moved away. He was afraid to travel too fast or he'd lose his footing. A few slimy touches wouldn't be as bad as slipping beneath the water.

Duo could swim, Heero had seen to that before he had let him on a boat with him for long, but he didn't like it, and harbored a deep fear of the water. Deep water. Water closing over his head.

He lost his hold on the soap, which popped out of his hands with a plosh.

"I'll reach that for you," the older man purred. As Treize pretended to reach for the soap, Duo felt his wayward fingers skim over his thigh.

In the skirmish that followed, Wufei escaped, scuttling crab-like around the perimeter to the other marble bench.

_Well, he had the governor's attention off his friend. Now what was he going to do, _Duo wondered?

Strong hands seized his hips, elevating him onto the governor's lap, facing his broad chest. "Time to change sides. Part your legs a little more and you'll fit better."

His legs spread to encircle of the older man and his groin slid forward. Duo could not miss the size differential between his limp cock and the imposing pole saluting him from below.

"You are the most seductive little mouse. Yes, you are my little mouse."

_Mouse! Wufei's a hot-as-hell, fire-breathing dragon and I'm a fucking little scrap of vermin!_ Duo was pissed off. When the crushing lips pressed against his, he bit down.

Treize pulled back and licked the blood off his lips. "Oh, a fighter? I love a challenge."

Three things happened at once. A wave of water nearly washed over his head and then Wufei appeared at his side dragging him out of reach of the lascivious man, just as Heero dashed into the room.

As well timed as Duo's entry had been for Wufei the first time, Heero's interruption came at an even more opportune point in time.

"Governor Khushrenada. You are needed in the L3 reception room AT ONCE!"

"What?" Treize grumbled as he reassembled himself to take in the new presence in his bath.

"Somethin's coming down, I reckon he means," Duo said.

Both he and Wufei scrambled out of the water, while Heero tossed them towels.

"This is a rude time to bother me," Treize continued to complain.

"It can't wait." Heero offered the man a thick robe embroidered with gold roses at the cuffs.

"Humph…"

Heero moved between Duo and Wufei and whispered so only they could hear, "Get dressed. Breakout time, hot stuff."

Duo grinned and cast a glace to Wufei.

"He meant _you_," Duo said at the same time Wufei snapped, "He meant _you_."

"Hurry up." Heero chuckled darkly and helped them sort out their clothes.

End Chapter 22


	23. Chapter 23

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Three **

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, shounen-ai, language, rated for eventual yaoi

A/N: Thanks to waterlily and snowdragon for the invaluable advice and edits and to snow for "Hazardville", another real town name. The cave escape described in the next few chapters is based on personal experience. Let me know if you've ever been caving.

* * *

Trowa and Quatre danced with surly Weiridge and the depraved Tsubarov, sybarites both, continuing their lies about their sexual conquests over the past week, and ignoring their dance partners, who just as thoroughly but more silently ignored them right back.

Treize marched into the room followed at a distance by Heero, Wufei, and Duo. He wore his pants loosely buttoned under a long flowing robe, untied, and an angry expression. "What is going on? I see no disturbance!"

He came to a standstill in the middle of the room, hitched his belt, and worked his neck muscles with impatience. The dancers waltzed to a stop. All eyes turned to him.

"Winner, what are you doing? I thought you'd gone. Isn't that carriage of yours repaired yet?"

"I thought we could talk."

"Talk. I see. Very well. Hello, how are you, now goodbye. Does that count? You can go now."

Quatre stepped a foot closer and smiled with his most innocent look. "I'm sorry to have missed seeing your wife, Lady Une."

"Yes, too bad. She is out of town." Treize said shortly, nettled at the topic's exposure.

"Oh, now, you can do better than that, can't you? Try, oh, let's see… I know! I ordered a partner of mine to shoot her. How does that sound, you _did_ do the ordering?" Quatre's voice dripped with scorn, his eyes accusing.

Treize sputtered out his denial. "You lying little fag —"

"Eh-eh! Watch the name-calling! And watch who you call a liar. You know it's the truth. I have proof. Oh, yes. Better than that, I have Lady Une herself recovering in a sanatorium. Where you ask? Well, that's a secret."

Treize shot a glance Tsubarov's way. Tsubarov dropped his head, his thready, mouse-brown hair curling limply to his chest.

"Those Maguanacs are persuasive," Tsubarov muttered.

"They are like my eyes and ears," Quatre began.

"Then you've gone blind and deaf!" was the governor's retort. "Don't you say on L4 that 'He who peeps at the neighbor's window may chance to lose his eyes' ? Now, you should forget what you don't understand and take my advice—"

"Not hardly." Quatre smiled. "Since you are familiar with the L4 sayings, then you must have heard this one: 'A friend advises in his interest, not yours.'"

"How is your use of the swarthy Maguanacs any different from my use of Barton's mercenaries? We both pay our private armies for protection and service."

Before Quatre could supply his explanation, a clamor of voices, war cries, and what might have been falling wooden blocks interrupted him.

"Whoop! Whoop!" A truly huge man-monster charged down the hall from the entry, hollering and carrying an axe.

"NO! Not my collection!" Treize wailed as he dove toward the rider.

"Holy Tumultuous!" someone cried.

The giant of a man riding bareback on a horseback swung an ace twice at the nearest display table, making two sharp reports very much like gun fire. His face paint glowed white and black striped with bold dashes of red and yellow and turned his visage into a gaudy mask.

The native then turned to heave the axe at the fast approaching governor.

To avoid getting an axe through the skull, Treize veered into the nearby curio cabinet, cracking through the glass doors, and sending a tinkling of trinkets spilling onto the hard floor.

A blood-red, wild-haired Midi, AKA Ivy Shruggs, and Great Eagle provided the perfect distraction.

Trowa, despite his shiny, effete livery, applied his skills to move without detection and disappeared from Winner's side. He joined Wufei, Duo, and Heero in the hall and led them into an unoccupied room.

There wasn't time to argue or over analyze the situation. "We have de layout of de mansion and its grounds to examine for all possible escape routes. Quatre an' I studied it some."

Duo jammed a finger here and there. "There's the front gate and the back. This at the side, where does it lead?"

Wufei followed the faded wiggly line. "The stables and that's it, although, there must be horse trails."

Trowa jabbed at the side. "Here. Deez grey lines. Dere's one dat leaves the compound here and here."

"So we could ride out of here. Clean getaway," Duo concluded.

"What is this?" Heero asked.

Wufei examined the drawing carefully. "Yes, the horse trail changes to dots and dashes in the rocks. Then it intersects off the property line near with the horse path from the stables."

"Cave." Trowa pointed to a rectangle where his hand had been resting. "According to de legend."

Duo pounded on his shoulder. "You were hiding that?"

"No, Quatre noticed it, w'en we were looking."

Heero and Duo studied the drawing further until Heero had all the drawn-in landmarks memorized.

"Yep!" Duo cried. "Now I see the tunnel I found. It leads from the stables right back to the side of the house where the office is. I found the entrance. I knew it! And it was filled down there with kegs of beer and wine and stuff."

Trowa agreed. "Quatre was sure dey moved contraband in and out dat way. You should use it. Quatre wanted more o' de brand marks, de ones from de Nor'd are illegal to have since we are at war wid dem."

Duo nodded. "Got it."

Wufei glared at them. "No caves for me."

Trowa went for the save. "Dat's okay. Splitting up's good. Chang's got part o' de papers, a y'all got de rest. So, w'at if Duo an' Heero take de house tunnel to de stables an' Chang finds his own way. Meet dere and if someone doesn't show an' dere's hot pursuit den ride wid de remainin' horses to de cave exit off de property."

"Chang," Heero put in, "Should you get to the stable and the horses are gone, that means we got there first and had to retreat fast. You will have to take the cave entrance over there. We will meet up where the cave opens out, and ride to here."

Wufei looked unhappy. "That will not be an option. I will get there first with my part of the documents and wait for you."

"As long as possible, but it you are followed then go and take the horses," Heero repeated. "We'll take the cave route and meet you at the cliff opening."

Wufei agreed and asked, "What about Trowa and Winner?"

"We'll get de test engine out in de carriage."

"And all meet up in Hazardville," Yuy said, "with all the plans and more evidence of bootlegging."

Wufei winced. "Unfortunate name."

Duo tugged on Heero's sleeve. "Let's hit the road, buddy. While we still gotta diversion."

(o)

Trowa sauntered back to the party in no hurry to get caught up in his circus friend's fiasco. As happy as he'd been at their timely appearance, he wanted to avoid getting underfoot; in particular, getting trampled by the horses. Quatre, he knew, could take perfectly good care of himself.

He hadn't been born a gambler, but he came by it naturally and grew into a good player. His cool demeanor and sharp, calculating mind were the perfect combination. Blessed with natural balance and sharp eyes, his skill with knife throwing and acrobatics fit into the circus life that had become a large part of his growing up. What in his past, in his makeup, had prepared him to become a gentleman's companion, his lover, his partner? He had no answer to that one, unless he'd come from a wealthy family.

He leaned in a doorway, watching the thundering horses knock into priceless furniture and listening to the homeowner have a fit. Who would have thought Yuy would run into an old river gang member? As he told it, Dekim Barton's gang abducted or killed all the rest of Odin Lowe's men. Heero hadn't been in the house nor had he ever been associated with Odin, so he had been overlooked. The only other survivor had hidden away, observed the attack, and waited to inform Heero before running off. How he'd ended up as a guard in Treize's household was a long story, but what was important was that he'd held onto the guilt he'd felt, leaving a young boy alone with nothing but the carnage of his dead father and smoldering ruins of his only home. When Yuy met him in the servants' quarters, he recognized him at once. Michael Planter. Planning the diversion, getting Ivy's cooperation, that had been Quatre's handiwork. Letting down the guard and allowing entry to the two horsemen had taken most of the risk out of the plan, and the man had done it all to gain Heero's forgiveness. A man with a conscience— what a rarity and what luck!

Yes, if anything, luck had been with him all his life, and for that, Trowa Barton was very thankful.

Treize shouted for his guards, his bellows echoing up and down the halls. "Guards! What is the meaning of this?! Who let you in!? Guards! Get these dirty savages out of my home!"

Here they came at last, looking bedraggled and tipsy. _Planter must have boozed up his fellow guards_, Trowa mused.

And this gave him a fantastic idea for the finishing touch to their escape plans. He slinked around to the backstairs and dashed to the servant's quarters, where he had stashed his personal belongings alongside Heero and Duo's. Their things were still there. Where they were headed, they wouldn't be able to carry them. He rummaged through his bag until he found the paper-wrapped Chinese herbs he would need, and silently expressed his thanks to Wufei for sharing his supply. He gathered up all their belongings and carried them out to the stables. There, he hid their things under heaps of straw and checked on the carriages in the shelter next to the barn. Sure enough, in the back of one lay a gigantic copper and brass object.

He straightened his satin jacket and smoothed his knee pants, thinking he looked good in livery, and then found the groom. "Ah, Mr. Tsubarov wants dis rigged up wid des horses."

"Those aren't his horses."

"Dat's right. He traded horses with Mr. Winner." Trowa grinned. "Lost a bet."

"Oh, sure, whatever you say. Okay."

Trowa patted the herb-pack in his pocket and stepped out into the sun. He left all the bags out of sight in the straw, just in case something went wrong, and moseyed on back to the party. He caught sight of the big native and waved. Ivy wheeled her steed around and waved as they let out war whoops and reared their horses.

_Show offs. _Trowa smiled and watched them ride away. _Time to join the party._

In fact, the dust was only just settling when he stepped into the L3-themed party room. Weiridge and Tsubarov were huddled together in a corner. Quatre stood his ground front and center.

The governor veered around, a calculating gleam in his eyes. "So it comes down to you and me, Winner. How much do you want?"

Quatre appeared taken aback. "Do not buy either the moon or the news, for in the end they will both come out."

"Preserve me from more L4 homilies. Winner, how about a title? I have loads to spare."

"Have you really?" Quatre asked, feigning amazement. "No thank you, governor, although that's rather generous of you, considering."

"Considering what? I tire of your games and wish to put an end to this evening's foolishness."

"I hear you are shopping for a Dukedom yourself." Quatre smiled. "No, I do not like or keep titles. I was often warned as a youth: call someone your lord and he'll sell you in the slave market."

"Ha!" the mirthful sound, if that was what is was coming from the unhappy looking governor, was a dry chuckle. "I haven't heard that one. Your Maguanacs teach you that one?"

"No, but Rashid used it in a joke one time. My father taught me the saying I live by, and that is: 'It's all borrowing and owing until the two men settle accounts. The time will come when you must pay finally for how you live.' Your time, Treize Khushrenada, has come."

Trowa used the awful pause in the conversation to offer everyone a drink. As he prepared the mixture in a pitcher, he added the substance from his pocket to all but 2 cups, and set his own aside. Starting with Quatre, he passed out the drinks.

"A 'pick me up' for you, sir," Trowa said. He gave his lover a hooded look, as if he were signaling something, and a silent communication seemed to pass between them.

(o)

"So, you wanna tell me how Great Eagle and Ivy got in?" Duo asked as he and Heero darted around a corner. "You looked pretty smug back there."

"Later. Hold up." Heero collected the lanterns and matches from behind the, thankfully, undamaged, credenza then chased Duo into Khushrenada's office.

"Here's the cellar hiding place."

"Right," Heero said. "Take one." He handed over a lantern and climbed the narrow wooden ladder.

"The stash is this way."

Heero let Duo lead the way. "We're to collect more keg labels for evidence later. I gave Winner the ones you got."

"Okay."

They ripped for a few minutes. "We should get the hell outta here, 'Ro."

"Agreed."

"This is the tunnel we saw on the map. With luck, the stable's at the other end."

"You go first," Heero urged him. The cold, damp air on his face was unwelcoming.

Duo gave the opening a wary glance. "Yeah, this whole day's better looked back on than forward to."

That got him the chuckle he had hoped for and with that reward as motivation, he dashed into the bowels of the estate. Small halos of lantern-light reflected off a few shiny rocks before being absorbed by the velvety gloom. "Looks like there's some wet spots," Duo warned. Moments later, he slipped on the slime-slicked slate underfoot, and roughed up his palms stopping his fall. "Damn it all!"

Heero cursed from murk when his shirt snagged on the rotting wood siding, tearing a chuck away. A cascade of loose shale and caked-on mud littered the path and nearly closed it off.

"There's no going back," Heero shouted. "This had better open up where you say."

Duo detected a note of rising panic in his friend's voice. He hoped Heero was not going to panic in a cave, because more likely than not, their label collecting had wasted precious time so that Wufei would easily have beaten them to the horses and been forced to leave without them. He just knew a cave loomed large in his future.

"I see light up ahead!" Duo called out.

He felt Heero's hand on his back, pushing, urging him faster—as if he needed any added incentive. The narrow confining space didn't bother him, but the thought of the rotting wood walls collapsing and trapping them terrified him.

Thin rays of moonlight sliced the darkness through a metal grate. Below the metal bars hung a short iron ladder, which they nearly flew up they were so eager to see the sky again. Heero crammed in beside Duo to push the covering up and off. Duo grabbed his shirt and yanked Heero back into the tunnel.

"Guards," he hissed. "Lemme check it out first. Keep the lantern back."

Heero didn't like Duo taking the risk, but Duo was already poking his head out of the opening, and then he was gone.

Duo kept to the deepest shadows, listening for guarded breathing or voices. All was silent. As he crept nearer to the stable, he found a discard revolver, torn piece of fabric from a shirt, he deduced, and other signs of a skirmish.

"'Fei?"

With stealth acquired from years of surviving the dangerous cities alone and with no money, Duo searched the stable for their friend and comrade and the horses. The stable contained what he expected, except a shortage of horse flesh. He found Quatre's coach and Tsubarov's with his sheeted, demonstration model steam engine. He noted movement from between a gatehouse a tree. He could make out the groom and other servant running toward the stable. "Time to go. What's that? Rope—handy."

He tore a couple coils of rope from a hook, and scanned the space for any last minute changes. Revolver. He snagged that, figuring Heero would carry enough ammo to fight a brigade. Mission fulfilled, he backtracked to the tunnel opening using the same caution as before.

"Wufei's already taken the horses."

"Shit."

"I know, 'Ro, I'm not excited about going through a cave either."

Heero dipped his chin in a curt nod. Whatever his problem was he was dealing with it as best he could. "He has a head start, but we could take other horses and catch up."

"Something strange about that. There are only Quatre's horses left in there. Either Wufei's being followed by a posse or he's cut the rest free to stop pursuers."

Heero pursed his lips in frustration.

"'Ro, he has a long ride and he had to fight off someone to get out. That took time and he can't go fast trailing at least our two extra horses. If the drawing was accurate, the cave route should cut off miles."

"Okay." Heero must have come to terms with his cave demons, Duo thought. Heero pointed to the pistol Duo had confiscated, asking, "Find that?"

Duo offered him the gun, which he accepted with a grim smile.

"While you load it, I'll refill the lanterns with the last of the oil so we can ditch the excess crap. I got rope, too."

"Smart." Heero shared a warm smile that bolstered Duo's spirits.

They repacked their small knapsacks, jettisoning everything deemed useless. "Okay, grab the lanterns and those ropes and let's get out of here."

(o)

Treize determined that Winner was a better game player than he'd given him credit for. "You have been taking lessons, young Master Winner. Is that what you've brought on that Cajun servant for? Oh, pardon me, I mean, amongst other things."

"Are you ready to negotiate?" Quatre wanted to know.

"For what?"

"Missing wife, attempted murder," Quatre waved one of the labels Duo had torn from the governor's cache below ground, "Illegal use of funds…bootlegging —"

Treize tore the paper from his hand and tore it to bits, which he flung into the fire.

"You can't prove a thing," he said watching the paper curl and blacken in the flames.

"I have more."

"More what?" Treize asked uneasily.

"Evidence, reasons for you to cooperate with me." Winner smiled sympathetically. "I've become friends with an old chum of yours. He has shared a few stories." His voice hardened. "Of how you seduced him when he was younger, or attempted to. He's not sexually attracted to males, you know that don't you?"

Treize gritted his teeth. "I asked before, what do you want? Get out with it!"

Quatre took an envelope from his inner jacket pocket and opened it to read. "His new secretary wrote this up. As you can see it is a ruling repealing the anti-homosexual laws."

"What do you want me to do with this?" Treize asked suspiciously. "Merquise has the power to put this to a vote."

At that, a broad grin spit Quatre's face. "So, you know of whom I was speaking. I have witnesses who just heard you admit to seducing a boy who turned out to be an underling of yours in the military. I wonder how many of Sanc's laws you've broken."

"De tally's at fifteen, I dink," Trowa put in helpfully.

"Fifteen and counting," Quatre said, passing a disdainful look over everyone in the room.

Treize face purpled. "My guards won't let you past this room, any of you, alive that is."

"Sixteen. Listen, Governor Khushrenada, I do want to make a deal. First, I want your signature approving this measure and your vow to see it pass the Duke's veto, if it should come to that. Second, I want you to denounce Dekim Barton and stop any agreements you have with him. Third, I want you to declare him an outlaw and have him and his followers brought to justice. I'll think of the fourth later."

"And you will drop all charges? _All _charges?"

A hush fell over the room. No one stirred, cleared a throat, sniffed, snorted, or coughed.

"Yes. Forgive and forget, I say," Quatre said with a resigned sigh. "Signature first, though."

Treize fell into a chair, the weariness of defeat washing over him, his shoulders slumping. "Give it here, then." With a flourish of feather-tipped ink pen, he autographed the document. "Now, you will leave my property," he said. The command lacked authority; the imperious tone was gone. The conquered man dropped his head to the tabletop, trounced. And knocked out, in fact.

"Thank you, I think I shall be going." When Quatre turned around the quiet room. "Trowa? Why is everyone asleep?"

"I spiked de punch wid sleeping herbs. Chang was kind to share wid me."

Quatre wrapped him in an embrace. "And I thought I was so clever. What a jewel of a conspirator I have in you. When I'm emperor, I'll make you my chief tactician."

Trowa pressed into him harder and crushed his lips over those of the shorter man. He pulled away and whispered, "De scheme I have is to get outta dis place, find a private room in an inn, an' listen to you scream my name into de pillows."

"Ummm, love your plans. Is everything ready to go?"

"Dis way."

Trowa and Quatre escaped into the night. Trowa collected the last of their things and stowed them in Tsubarov's waiting carriage. He told the groom to lead the carriage out onto the lane, and then dashed back inside the barn housing Winner's coach. He removed a couple pins holding a wheel in place, loosened it more with a kick and watched the transport list to one side, and then ran back to Quatre. When he settled into the driver's seat, Quatre asked where he'd gone.

"Breaking your carriage so it can't be used to follow us, though I didn't see any horses to pull it anyway."

"Oh! Well, I did say ours broke down." Quatre laughed, and the two drove off in the night.

(o)

"Wufei really studied the map and drew lines and did some math I didn't understand but he called it geo-metrics? Something like that. He came up with a distance of two miles in the cave, not counting the ups and downs, er, the climbs and descents, and 15 for him, plus some hilly places and mountain cliffs. That means about two to four hours for us and about an hour or two for him, depending."

"It all 'depends', doesn't it?" Heero said. He didn't like the way Duo made light of the hours underground. Those would be hours of his life he would never get back.

"He said the elevation lines showed the cave takes us through a mountain and goes down most the way."

"It's liable to be wet and cold."

"No wetter or colder than outside, 'Ro. It feels like it might start raining, or snowing."

"Here!" Heero found the cave opening behind a thick gnarled pine. "Doesn't look too bad." Heero and Duo slid down a muddy slope to get to the entrance, and then stepped into a dusty opening. "At least it's dry inside."

Duo stepped past the rocky outcropping and into the dank, shadowy interior. "Euww! Slimy would be hell."

"You have a strange idea of what Hell's like, you know that, Duo?"

"Well, if we're stuck midway through this cave tunnel—"

"Then we'll back out and run the 15 miles to meet Wufei," Heero snapped back with conviction. "That doesn't sound too bad right now."

"You really don't like caves, do you?" Duo asked. "Wufei refused to even consider going this way, but he's prissy enough to snub anything dirty. What's your problem?"

"River rats need the feel of fresh air," Heero was quick to say. He felt embarrassed having to admit the weakness and wouldn't meet Duo's eyes. "I'm not meant to live in a cave." As if he needed another excuse, he revealed, "I would say I have every phobia one could associate with caves: loss of sight, tight places, silence, and bats."

"Well, can't help you with the first two, but I can sing to keep you company and this one has no bats. It smells too good. I'm not kidding! Bat shit piles up and smells bad, believe me."

"You are experienced with caves, then?" Heero asked. The escapade wouldn't be so bad if Duo was comfortable with caves, he thought.

"Yeah a few and lots of underground tunnels so I got the tight-places and dark covered."

"That's good because you're going to take point on this job." Heero kept the rest of his mixed feelings to himself and stepped away from the entrance. In the absence of artificial light, the inside of a cave wrapped him in total, absolute darkness. Cut off from the sounds outside, Heero could hear dripping water, and that sounded very far in the distance. He shivered with revulsion.

"Okay. Hey, 'Ro, you can do this," Duo said as he gave him a reassuring part on the back.

"Hn," Heero grunted. "We'll have to climb?"

"Yeah, probably."

"I'm good at that."

"Then you can help me." Duo winked and Heero kissed his cheek. "That's nice for starters."

"For luck."

They lit the lanterns and began their adventure. At the start, the walk was just low ceiling with the left side open. They scrambled single file up a mud-slick rock, then duck-walked through a low corridor. Their clothes got wet, dirty, and muddy after crawling and climbing up and down the slippery terrain. The end of the duck walk opened into a most beautiful site.

Stalactites suspended from the ceiling reached down to stalagmites below. Some rock formations dripped cold water that seeped from the ground above the cave. They raised the lanterns and walked about spellbound by the extraordinary sight.

"Wow," Duo gasped.

The colors ranged from the deepest rust and grays to a pristine white covering the active flowstone.

"Beautiful," Heero whispered. "Like freshly fallen snow when the sun hits it."

"Fucking awesome," Duo agreed.

"Look here!" Heero shined his light toward the wall. There was a red salamander. It was so small and easily missed.

"There are pools over here!" Duo shouted with excitement.

They took turns throwing loose rocks into the brilliant pools just to hear the gentle plunk reverberate through the cavern chambers.

"Duo." Heero's lantern showed two openings in the cave wall-- two, not one. They were at an impasse. "Which way?"

Duo decided to try the lower first. He scooted on his back into a small cavern that led to another niche. Being slender and flexible was definitely useful for getting through some of the tight spots. Heero folded himself into the opening, pushing the lantern ahead, and rolled onto his back. He reached the first small cave when Duo's voice came back to him.

"Dead end. Go back."

Relieved, Heero scooted out, dragging his things behind him. Even for a limited time, he hated the confined space. He grasped Duo by the shoulders when they appeared and helped drag him out and to his feet.

"You got wet?" Heero asked.

"Yeah, well next time I'll go for the upper route," Duo told him. "All I could see was a stream running through most of the lower level. I tried to stay out of it and keep dry, elevating myself above the water by pressing my knees and elbows against the sides of the cave, like this." He demonstrated on the upper tunnel opening, and then dropped back down. "But when I got as far as I could, the stream emptied into a hole too small for us and that was it."

"Just as well," Heero said. "I didn't like the feel of an underground river."

"Yeah, looks like whenever we get a choice between an upper and lower tunnel in this cave, we outta remember that water always seeks the lowest level, and go high."

They chose the upper route next, and after over three grueling hours and a series of rough, near-death experiences they agreed that caving built the mental skills to overcome self-doubt, traumatized you, or outright killed you. Heero chose to forget it all, pretend it never happened, and move on. He'd let Duo tell the entire story later, when they were safe and comfortable again.

When at last they staggered from the cave into the moon lit night, the bracing air of the out-of-doors smacked their faces, stinging the numerous abrasions, torturing them at the same time as waking them up.

Heero tried to shake off the nightmarish cave experience. "That was too close."

"You're telling me? I think my tongue is bleeding," Duo said.

"Lemme see," Heero said, leaning forward and sharing the warmth of his body with Duo. After no human contact and too much chilling rock, this little movement was sending ripples of pleasure through his body.

Duo stuck his tongue out and Heero inspected it briefly then sucked it into his mouth. When Duo moaned, he groaned, too, enjoying the kiss; that is until a faint voice filtered up from far below.

"Maxwell! Yuy! I hear your voices! I don't see a path up. You'll have to climb down here."

"Chang? Wufei?!" Heero and Duo shouted together.

"He's _here?_" Duo sounded astonished. "Man, I can't believe the plan worked!"

"It very **nearly** did **not**," Wufei continued to bark up at them. "I hadn't time to free all the horses, which was a mistake I paid for. I was followed. I had a messy fight getting here. Still, I've waited an hour or more for you. What--?"

"Don't ask," Heero said. "We're both injured, but not seriously. Duo has a head wound so I want him down first."

"But why--?"

"We will fill you in on our escape from the tomb of terror later," Duo put in.

"Tomb? Oh, forget it. I see your silhouettes, now. My determination is that you are 50 feet or more from where the horses and I are standing."

Heero shook his head, even though Wufei wouldn't be able to see him. "We don't have that much rope."

"I have 20 or 30 feet of rope," Wufei shouted.

"You can't throw it that far, 'Fei," Duo pointed out.

"I need to see what the climb is like." Heero tied a lantern to the end of one rope and dangled it over the edge. He let out the rope, illuminating the steep cliff along the way. "That's it for that rope."

"Yuy! Can you go down another few feet or so? I think there's a ledge," Wufei said.

"Just a minute." Heero handed over the rope to Duo. "I'm going to secure the other rope to a rock or stump or something that will hold us, and then attach it to this one. If it reaches Wufei's ledge, then I'll lower you to that point."

"You'll leave me on the side of a cliff?" Duo's fuzzy brain didn't like that.

"No. Wufei can probably throw his ropes that far. You'll get them and I'll haul you back up, tie them together, and then we'll see if it's long enough."

"What if the rope's still too short to get down?" Duo asked.

Heero locked eyes with his dearest friend. "We'll get down tonight, somehow."

Duo sat at the edge and sighed. Heero agreed that the scariest part was getting over the edge. "Trust me."

"Always, 'Ro."

He successfully lowered Duo to the very narrow outcropping.

"Just don't let go!" Duo shouted, his voice betraying his fear. "This could break away at any time and it's really small!"

"I won't let you fall," Heero assured him.

"I'm tying a stick to the end of my ropes. I tied them together in a square knot, which ought to be secure," Wufei told him. "My point being, I don't want to hit you, but it should make the rope more visible and my aim more accurate."

"Go for it!"

The first two tosses were wide and Duo nearly lost his perch reaching for them. The next attempt hit the rocks over his head. On the fourth try, he caught the stick and held on. "Got it!"

Heero hauled him up, sweating from the effort in spite of the cold air. Duo unleashed himself from one rope, and sat back against a rock, looking exhausted from all the effort and injuries he'd sustained while climbing through the cave.

"Rest there while I get the rope fixed."

"'Kay, 'Ro."

Using bowman's knots perfected after years on the river, Heero attached Wufei's rope to theirs and re-tied Wufei's two ropes as well.

"You all right?" Heero asked.

"You kidding? No, ah… I'll make it. Just tired, 'Ro."

"This is the last of it," Heero said to reassure his friend. "After this we ride to an inn. I'll rope you to the saddle if need be."

"You might have to," was Duo's weary reply.

Heero affixed the free end of the rope to Duo's waist, and gave him an affectionate squeeze. "Okay, legs over the edge, turn grab the rope and—"

Duo blinked at him. "I'm gonna puke."

"No you're not. Chang's down there. Now, take it slow and I'd talk you through this."

"O-kay."

"I cannot believe you actually got me hanging here by a rope, walking down a cliff!" Duo shouted out to Wufei below and Heero waiting his turn above him. "My stomach is doing flips just thinking about it."

"Keep going." Wufei stood beneath him and calculated how far he had left to go. It was dark, but Duo was visible in the moon light. "You are about one third of the way down."

"Too late to change my mind about this, huh?" Duo asked.

"Relax, you are doing everything right," Heero called down to him.

"Who decided it would be fun to end the night rappelling down a 60 foot cliff in the dark?" Duo quipped.

A minuet or so later, Duo remarked, "You have to snake your way around sharp rocks, just so you know, 'Ro."

"Thanks."

"You are two-thirds of the way down," Wufei yelled.

"I just want to get down. At least it's not real dark. I mean, after that fucking cave, the silvery moonlight seems brilliant."

A few minutes later, Duo announced, "I'm at the end of my rope! Heh, heh… Gimme a minute now…"

He had to release the knot around his waist and drop the last ten feet, but Wufei was there to steady him. "Yuy! He's down. Your turn."

"I'm sending our gear first, then I'll come."

Heero could hear Duo and Wufei talking below. First, it was Duo complaining. He must have been so drained that he could not get up and Wufei was helping him, or trying to.

"What are you doing, 'Fei? I didn't think you liked guys that way."

"Forgive me for being concerned for you welfare. I'm conducting a cursory body check."

Heero shouted, "Good. How is he?"

"The head wound isn't deep. Tears, gashes…"

"Hey, I'm right here. Talk to me!" Duo demanded.

"All right. Your clothes are disgusting. You can't enter the inn in this condition."

"Sorry…"

Heero cut him off. "I untied the rope at the top to give us a few more feet. Was it enough? Can you reach it?"

"Yes!" Wufei replied. He unknotted the bags and remaining lantern. "Yuy? Rope's clear!"

Heero dragged his end of the rope and re-secured the end, and tested it with a firm yank. He was ready to make his own descent.

"What happened to the rest of your gear?" he heard Wufei ask Duo.

"Sacrifice to the cave demon," Duo explained. "We saved one lantern and the plans, though."

Heero didn't think that would make sense at all to Wufei. Hopefully, he would ignore the slip, chalking it up to the head injury. As long as their part of the steam engine plans were safe in the battered bag that was all that was important, right? Heero rappelled with practiced ease down the cliff face until the rope was fully taut.

"You'll have a 10 foot drop at the end," Wufei told him.

"Thanks for the warning!"

Heero dropped like a cat and gave the rope one last look. "I wish we could take it with us. It's excellent quality."

"You can cut what you can reach," Wufei said. "I'm riding back a few hundred yards to where I hid the bodies of three of the guard that followed me."

He winced. "I don't think they're dead."

"It was in self defense," Heero reminded him.

"Yes, thank you."

Heero saw what might have been a grateful look in his eyes, and then Wufei went on to say, "I'll see what clothes of theirs I can salvage for you and Duo to wear. You look as disreputable as him."

Heero sank to his knees near Duo. "Good idea."

"I won't be long," Wufei said.

Heero embraced his dear love, wrapping his arms around Duo for warmth and with affection.

"Good idea," Wufei said in a low voice. "Try to stay warm."

Heero's eyes flew open at the sound of approaching footsteps. He and Duo had lapsed into a doze: he had failed to protect Duo! He looked around for a weapon and tensed into a crouch.

"Here, there are slacks and jackets. The shirts were…too bloody."

"Chang!" he tried not to sound as frightened and angry as he felt.

"Well, it was the best I could do!" Wufei snapped.

"Sorry, I didn't know who was coming. You startled me."

"Oh. It's probably good to be alert. Someone will come looking for the men."

Heero fingered the jackets. "These will be all right, but I'll need a hand getting Duo dressed. I think he's losing consciousness."

"Don't let him sleep," Wufei warned. "Not with that head injury."

"I'm awake." Duo shook off his stupor, and actually did most of the work himself, changing into too long clothes, and rolling back the cuffs and sleeves. "They're warm."

"A soon as we get to the inn, I'll order you both hot bathes and treat those cuts and gashes before you come down with some nasty cave fungus or disease," Wufei said.

"Sounds good--"There was a strange noise at Heero's feet, which distracted him.

"Bath, clean wounds, bed," Duo repeated. "Now that's a winning plan. LOOK! The rope!"

Wufei's pulse quickened. He looked up at the rope only to discover to his horror that the rope was disappearing up into the darkness.

Heero screamed," Something is pulling the rope. Get the hell outta here!"

SOMETHING WAS PULLING THE ROPE BACK INTO THE CAVE!!

"Dear Buddha! Get the horses!"

Heero looked back one last time. He half expected to see some creature from deep within the earth poke it's head over the side of the cliff. He wanted to wait there and watch the rope for signs of anything bizarre. Could his heart take any more stress, he wondered? He couldn't have been more wired. His brain had reached sensory overload.

"Move, Yuy!" Wufei yelled.

Duo grabbed the priceless bag of plans, and then he and Heero climbed upon their horses as fast as their battered bodies could haul up into the saddles. If luck was with them, and Heero hoped it was, Duo wouldn't slip and fall. Compounded with what he'd already gone through, a fall from his horse racing away at full gallop would be fatal.

End Chapter 23


	24. Chapter 24

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Four **

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, shounen-ai, language, rated for eventual yaoi

* * *

The fifteen-mile ride to the small town called Hazardville scarcely lasted over an hour. Wufei valued a good ride when he was in a hurry and this road was empty and in excellent condition. Heero and Duo were riding as if demons were chasing them, which would indeed be the case if Khushrenada's men had been the cause of the disappearing rope trick—or something else. It wasn't until the final few minutes that the temperature dropped below freezing and frost rimmed the edges of puddles and outlined tree branches.

Heero led away the horses, leaving Wufei and Duo to settle with the innkeeper. The sunrise was not far off and everyone was asleep, so getting a servant to arouse the keeper, ready baths, and rustle up food was a challenge. When Heero joined them in the lobby, that brought the count up to two men dressed in the governor's-guard livery standing in the inn demanding service, and one irritated Chinaman. The total effect seemed to make the servants move faster. Wufei hadn't considered the value of those clothes until that moment.

Quatre had fortunately arranged for rooms ahead of time, so there were accommodations waiting for them. After a minor uproar, the three men were made comfortable. Heero and Duo agreed to share a bathtub. When Wufei entered with his medicine bag, he found them stretched, legs intertwined, backs against opposite ends of the smooth porcelain-lined, claw-footed tub.

"At least _this_ part of the escape has gone as planned," Wufei said.

"Yo, Wu! _Que pasa_? Second bath in a day," Duo said, "in a night!"

"The first does not count," Wufei said, thinking to himself that he'd come out feeling dirtier than before he got into Treize's luxurious tub. And then there was the _Wu? _He had enough disturbing thoughts to put to bed for one day, and so decided not to address the new nickname_._ And falling back into L2 lingo must have meant Duo was strained to his limits and dead tired. _Why make an issue of it? Or of anything…_

Heero opened his eyes. "You're not _joining_ us, are you?" He sounded serious.

Wufei snorted and he settled cross-legged on the floor near Duo. "Absolutely not. I'm here to prepare my ointments. Duo has some nasty abrasions that require immediate treatment, and I assume you do, too. I was not joking about the cave fungus."

"I think he likes to gawk at our beauty," Duo teased. His chuckle was low and soft.

"Believe me--," Wufei dismissed his argument. "I understand communal baths are common throughout the kingdom, but not in the L5 area. It takes some getting used to, but I know that I would rather keep company with two naked, honorable, homosexual men than a single perverted, deceitful—"

Duo placed a hand on his arm, cutting short what more he had to say. "I'm glad you appreciate the difference. Not everyone does."

"Well…" Wufei busied himself with his preparations. Feeling comfortable around his comrades, and nearly spent, lowered his personal guard another notch. Enough so that he spoke his thoughts aloud. "Do you realize that I have seen all four of you naked in baths?"

Heero looked wide-eyed, then thoughtful, while Duo looked nearly asleep. "I can account for every occasion, except for one where Quatre was present," Heero said.

"That is because you were not there." _Account for that, Yuy._

A servant brought in a pot of boiling water, which he accepted and poured into three different brewing pots, and a bottle of amber liquor. "Where do you want the dinner put? It's almost ready."

"On the table by the window. We'll all eat here in this room, together," Wufei told him.

Heero waited until they were alone again before asking what had clearly been burning a hole in his head. "Why were you bathing with _him_? You certainly were aware of his sexuality."

"_He_ was bathing; I was reading the results of an annual report to him so he could be well-informed for a meeting he was rushing to make on time. He is very…blonde, which was unusual for me to see. Quite striking." He let that sink in while he turned to Duo. "I've got to clean the head wound, which means unraveling the rope you insist on dragging behind you."

"My braid? 'Sokay, it don't signify. I had it down my shirt and pants all through the cave," he mumbled in a drowsy voice.

"I don't know what makes you think that protected it in any way. Your shirt was a mere tatter when you came out. Don't argue with me. I'm willing to do the hard work."

Wufei decided that Yuy was too exhausted from the journey to lend a hand, and took it upon himself to clean Duo's hair, unraveling the braid, and washing the blood matting the top. Duo didn't complain or comment, although Wufei thought he might have purred. He felt a pair of passionate blue eyes boring a hole in his chest, and wondered if Heero was going to help. He handled the mop gingerly and with reverence, with the result being that Heero didn't move a muscle. It warmed him inside, knowing he had been accepted as a trusted friend.

Heero watched intently. "You are homosexual," he stated with certainty.

"No, I am not. I am appreciative of the finer aspects of both men and women, but it is _women_ that I choose for… coupling. Actually, wo_man_. I have my one and only for my wife, which is all I want or need."

This seemed to satisfy Heero at last. He nodded curtly and changed the topic, announcing, "If you are rinsing his hair, I'm getting out."

Doing the hair last was a good idea, because the water was tinted pink during the rinse cycle. Wufei did not mention how the color matched that of Treize's vile rosewater-treated bath water, and nor did anyone else.

They were dressed and Wufei was applying the final plaster over one of Heero's scrapes when the food arrived. They dined, exhausted, but alive, watching the sun rise over the hills, gilding the landscape where ice had frosted it the night before. Clouds scudded low over the hills and the wind blew chill.

"I can't eat while I'm falling asleep," Heero declared. "I've had enough."

"Yeah, that bed looks too good to be true over there," Duo agreed. "I'm gonna rack out."

Wufei folded his napkin and stood. "I get the message," he said with a smile. "I'll probably run into Winner and his jolly footman if I wait downstairs. They're due in anytime, if their plans worked out. I shall see you at lunch, then."

"Thanks, 'Fei."

"Yes, thanks for everything," Heero said with added meaning when he touched Wufei's sleeve. "You are a good man. L5 lost one of it's best when you came to live here. I consider Sublimity to have gained far more than an over-qualified schoolteacher when you arrived. I know I gained a… priceless friend."

Wufei swallowed hard. He couldn't recall hearing Heero make a speech about anything before and knew the man wasn't one to lavish praise. "As did I," he choked out, followed by another attempt to clear his throat. "The worst of this escapade of Winner's is past, let's hope," he said.

He left the two men climbing into bed, not wanting to see them take comfort in one another. Had they asked him, he would have joined them, knowing they'd just sleep. But they didn't. His own bed would be empty, so empty, and he missed his new bride exceedingly. He would not be able to go into that bare room and lie upon that high-post bed and sleep, he was positive, so he turned toward the staircase. He would sit in the lobby, find a servant for company, and wait for his other friends to arrive. Maybe then, he would simply pass out.

(o)

Quatre bumped along, while Trowa drove the carriage as hard as he thought the rickety wheels could tolerate, which was a great deal less than the powerful horses could bear. " Dis is taking longer dan you planned. We shoulda transferred de engine to your fine coach."

"Is this one going to fall apart?" Quatre asked. From his perch beside Trowa at the driver's seat, he risked a look to the side, but all he could see in the dark were spinning blurs. He had rarely sat beside the driver before, although he had driven his open carriage alone numerous times. He found the rush of icy wind on his face to be invigorating this night.

"I hope not. I jus' have to drive slower."

"I wanted to get to the inn first." Quatre gazed up into the sky. "Do you think it will snow?"

"Not tonight, _mon ami_. Wrong kind of clouds, too thin, which is lucky for us."

"I wonder how they are all doing."

"De best dey can."

Quatre moved closer to his side. "Beautiful moon."

"Good for finding our way in de dark; Chang, too."

Quatre sighed. "It's hard to be romantic when we're worrying about our friends, isn't it?"

"Dat's right. Get friends and you spend your time getting dem outta trouble." Trowa flashed him a toothy grin.

"But that feels good, too."

"Yeah, it does."

An hour later, Quatre spotted the small wayside tavern he had been looking for and told Trowa to pull around to the back. There, a heavy dray and four very heavyset horsemen were waiting for them.

"Rashid," Quatre called out to the biggest, who reminded him sometimes of a mountain brought to life. "I'm sorry if you've been waiting long."

"Not long, Master Winner, but thank you for your concern. Your carriage is overloaded, that is clear. It is good you didn't press any faster."

Rashid barked out instructions to his fellow Maguanacs. They transferred the demonstration model steam engine to the dray, covered it, and then one of the men returned to the carriage for the baggage, including Heero and Duo's things.

"You want that we take care of this for you?" Amid asked, patting the carriage and looking it over. He was another mountain monster of a man. There were small villages to the east that weren't as large as Amid. "Inferior quality piece. Shabby workmanship. You can always tell the middle classes' mediocre taste and indiscriminate purchasing decisions at work."

"Yes, thank you, Amid," Quatre replied. "We'll ride our horses the rest of the way. We won't be needing the carriage any longer. What will you do with it?"

"Kindling?" Amid grinned. "We kill a goat… have a bonfire-- just like in L4. Ha!" He chuckled with a sound like small bones being crushed.

"Knock yourselves out," Quatre said, laughing.

Rashid had the horses un-harnessed and shouted a command to a man toting a saddle for Quatre. "Put that on Master's mount, Emir." He held Quatre's pack of clothes and papers like a cherished treasure and smiled his way. Quatre nodded is general approval, but then noticed his servant's eyes slide past him and over. The man looked down at Trowa, his shiny, satin-garbed boyfriend, and spoke with politeness but without warmth. "Yours will be saddled next, sir."

"No, thank you, Rashid. I ride bareback."

Quatre knew Rashid doubted his suitability for a partner and wondered how Trowa's news would be taken.

The big man's furry, black eyebrows shot up into his overhanging fringe of hair. "No!"

"_Mais oui, monsieur_," Trowa said, leaving Quatre snickering in the background.

"You are so… accomplished! I had no idea! Veer-ry impressive, sir. Very good."

Quatre watched as Trowa bunched the horse's mane in one hand and hoisted himself onto is back in a single acrobatic leap. The Maguanacs clapped and cheered him on.

"Like a prince he moves!" Amid shouted with praise, his voice rising above the others.

Quatre rolled his eyes as Trowa's steed reared to a stand. Without a saddle, it was a striking stunt to pull, but he chided him anyhow. "Show off."

Trowa drew up close to Quatre and leaned over. "I t'ink dey respect me now."

"Yes, I think you're right."

Quatre let Trowa ride off in the lead, admiring the way he looked astride the large horse. Rashid was busy affixing Heero and Duo's bags to his saddle and some other things wrapped in a blanket. The men worried over him so. It was nice, Quatre felt, to be loved.

When he heard Trowa's name mentioned, his attention was drawn to the other men talking discretely; in particular, Amid telling one of the others, "He gave up smoking for the master." He sucked at his own handmade cigarette and blew out a long scrim of smoke. "Now that's impressive."

"No, that's true love," said another man, his cousin, Quatre recalled. "You know what they say: A man who smokes, loves; a man who never smokes, loves more; but a man who gives up his smokes, loves the most of all."

"They say that?" Amid asked, dashing out his smoldering butt with his heel. "I never heard that one. Who told you that one--?"

Quatre didn't stay to hear the rest; he'd heard enough, and he couldn't have agreed more with all statements. He tested the saddle, swung his leg up and over, dug in his heals, and his bay shot forward to join his impressive, princely, flaunt-it-all of a Cajun lover.

A short while later after covering a mile or two, Quatre's hand flew to chest, covering his heart and he cried out, "Oh, no! Oh, Trowa! I feel something terrible has happened!"

Trowa jumped from his horse and was at his side in an instant. He dragged Quatre from his mount and held him snugly. "Is it very bad?"

"Fear! Pain! Weariness! We must help them!"

"We…can't, my dearest," Trowa said. His voice cracked with the same anguish painted across his face in the moonlight. "We must trust dem to do deir part despite deir troubles. '_Ça chauffe_, non?" (It is difficult to do, no?)

"Yes, so hard. Trowa, it hurts me." Quatre sobbed and he hated to appear so weak, but in Trowa's arms he knew he did not have to pretend anything. He buried his face in Trowa's neck.

"You don't know who or w'ere dey are, an' I sure as hell don't know eider, so let's get a move on an' find out by getting to our meeting place."

Quatre tightened his grip. "Just a few minutes longer. I'm so cold."

"Okay, okay. A few minutes you can have." Trowa turned Quatre's face up and held it between his hands. "It is getting colder, feel it? An' later dis day it may snow, de wind blows in de weather wid de clouds."

They locked eyes and Quatre saw reassurance and strength.

"Yes."

"Rashid tied a coat and gloves on your saddle. Go put dem on."

"Yes." He felt like he soaked up Trowa's life force and gained power through eye contact alone.

"Kiss me," Quatre whispered, and when their lips touched, the transfer was complete. Quatre's being filled with trust and hope and daring; the fear and pain retreated; he was whole and his heart healed. He was the first to end the kiss and part. "I'm ready."

They regained their horses, found Rashid had packed two coats and two pairs of gloves, and put them on gratefully. After that, they rode hard into the dawn of the next day without further incidents or delays.

When they arrived in the village of Hazardville, they slowed and picked their way through the narrow, cobblestone paved streets until they reached their destination, the inn where they hoped to find their friends. It was Wufei who they ran into after entering the door.

"Wufei!" Quatre cried out. He didn't bother to mask his pleasure, bounded up to the man, and hugged him. "You made it! I was so worried."

"Well, I'm fine, as you can see." He wiggled free and straightened his jacket.

"What about Duo and Heero? Are they here?"

"Yes, and don't go bothering them. They had a rough trip and just got to sleep. I told them we would all meet for lunch."

"Oh…good. I can rest now, thank you for the news. I'm getting the key," he said to Trowa in passing.

Trowa slumped against the wall. "You were so sure we'd make it?"

"Naturally." Wufei met him smile for smile. "Nothing can stop a Winner and nothing can kill a Cajun, or so I hear."

"Oh, ho! Well, den, I should follow my own words of advice an' never miss a good chance to shut up."

"You like the sound of your own voice too much."

"Maybe. So? Why aren't you on your way to your room? You've been up all night, too."

Wufei folded his arms over his chest. "I thought I'd stay here in the lobby, read, talk to the charlady or whoever is awake."

Quatre returned from collecting their room key. He looked to Trowa and asked, "Ready?"

"He shouldn't be alone, _mon ami._ Talk him into it."

Quatre, being the empathic man that he was, took Wufei by one hand and caught up Trowa with the other. "Come on. You both look tired. Wufei, my friend, you should get some rest, too, I got the best room, plenty of space to share."

Wufei started to complain, but gave up and followed the two lovers up the staircase. They would honor his boundaries, he felt, and allow him the rest he needed—and the company. "Sounds like a good idea. I have my own room, you know."

"I know. I _specified_ it all, but you don't want to be alone right now, I can…feel it, and we have the largest bed. It will be fun."

"I actually am too tired to argue, I'm afraid."

(o)

A light snow blanketed the landscape, hiding all the signs of scuffles, riders, climbers, and cart trails under a pristine concealment. It was well after noon and edging into the early dinner hour by the time all five friends gathered to eat around the same round table. Platters scattered across the top, were quickly being emptied and pitchers of the house ale _were_ empty. There were half a dozen chairs, all but one occupied. That one chair had its back to the door; this was never a popular choice.

After allotting for a courteous period of quiet eating, Quatre spoke up. He wanted to hear about everyone's adventures, and he was most worried about Duo, who had been more subdued than usual.

"I'll get started with the good news," Quatre began. "A message was left for me. Great Eagle and his lovely wife, Ivy, passed through here before we got up, did a head count, saw that we were all fine, and left, but not before leaving saying that they are sending word back to Hilde and Catherine, letting them know that we are all okay. So, you can rest assured that those at home will stop their worrying. My, that was wordy. Did I make sense?"

"Yes, thank you," Wufei whispered.

"You are welcome. More good news-- I got Khushrenada's signature on the bill repealing the anti-homosexual laws."

"Hot damn!" Duo said his eyes alight with familiar fire. "I hope that rat-bastard gets what's coming to him."

"I'd like to see he gets a new family crest," said Wufei.

"And what's that?" Duo asked.

"_'Quid lucrum istic mihi est_?'"

"Meaning?"

"'What's in it for me?'"

"Not bad, better than the pecker-headed _phutzer_ deserves."

"I agreed not to publicize his worst deeds," Quatre said, his beatific smile turned a bit evil as he added, "but that doesn't mean someone else won't!" He described the dancing and patter and the drugging in order to make their escape, and watched the fire in Duo's eyes fade out.

"I'm glad my herbs were of use," Wufei said. "I should have thought of that and drugged the entire household from the start and avoided… much unpleasantness."

"I'm not sure I'm satisfied with Khushrenada's…punishment," Heero said, "but I trust you'll devise a plan to cover that sooner or later. What about the, ah, big item?"

Everyone looked around the room to make sure their conversation wasn't being overheard. Trowa leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Rashid has de…ah… _mock-up_ far away by now. Ours was, overall, de simplest path."

"I think you're right." Quatre turned to Wufei. "Why don't you go next? Something tells me Duo and Heero's story will be the longest."

"No shit," Duo muttered. He revealed nothing of what was on his mind, but Quatre could feel the undercurrent of unrest emanating from him.

"I'll be brief. When I arrived at the stables, no one was there. My thought was to find our horses and wait for Yuy and Maxwell to show up, but then I realized we would have to take or free all but Winner's horses to prevent the guard's giving us chase. So, while I waited I looked over the horses. I couldn't find yours, Winner."

Trowa ran a hand through his long bangs and sighed. "Dat is because de coach horses, dey put dem in an o'der stable closeby."

Wufei's eyes flared. "I should have known that." He brushed aside anything Trowa had to say with a karate chop movement that nearly shattered the tabletop.

"Chill, Wu," Duo said in a cautious manner.

"It's just—frustrating." Wufei closed his eyes in a manner Quatre recognized as 'centering' himself. After a few moments, he had calmed. "Time had run out. I gathered up all the horse flesh I could, roped the leads together and left the stables."

"Dat must have been complicated."

"It was, but I have a way with horses," Wufei said with a touch of his old pride returning. "Still I waited in a copse for any sign of you before I had to leave. I freed the other horses far enough from the property line that I was sure they wouldn't return that night, and then rode on to our appointed location near the cave exit. Shortly before reaching there, I heard the pounding of hoof beats following me."

"Better hoof beats than screams in the dark, I can tell ya," Duo shared mostly with Heero to his right. "Waitta minute!" He sat up and fixed his violet stare on Trowa. "You mean, you _knew_ that there were other horses there? Heero and I could have ridden out and met up with Wufei and not had to go through the fucking cave?"

Trowa sat back, putting a little distance between them. "I know _now_, it's true, but I didn't know at de time. W'en I had Tsubarov's coach hooked up with our horses, I saw o'ders dere, but I didn't t'ink. Besides, you an' Heero had already been gone an hour. You don't t'ink I'da made you go dat way on purpose, do you?"

"Ah, geez, I guess not, now that you put it all that way. Bad timing, huh?"

"I'd say we had the most fortunate timing, overall," Wufei put in.

"'Cept for missing the other horses." Duo scratched his chest, muttering, "Damned itchy coat."

"W'ere'd de uniforms come from?"

"The guards who attacked me," Wufei said. "I fought back, skillfully, I might add, and knocked them senseless. I'm sorry I left them in the cold without their clothes, but had they beaten _me_, I'm sure I wouldn't have had any chance at survival."

"I am certain you did the right thing," Quatre reassured him.

"It saved our lives," was Heero's comment.

"And, Duo, you're right, having to go through the cave should have been avoidable," Quatre stepped in as Duo fidgeted with the material of his borrowed coat. "Are you uncomfortable in those clothes?"

"Yeah, but I can't go nude, I suppose, huh?"

"No, but you don't have to. I have both your bags in my room upstairs, should you want to change—" Quatre got out before Duo cut him off.

"God, yes!" he shouted, bounding to his feet.

"Then do that and come back for dessert and tea in a few minutes."

No sooner had the words passed over Quatre's lips, than Duo shucked his coat and was on his way skipping up the stairs. Heero scraped it up, shouting after him, "You'll need these warm things later, idiot!"

Quatre stood and stretched his back and arms. He could see snow drifting lightly past the glass window panes outlined in frost. "I'd say our timing was perfect, with respect to the weather."

(o)

Feeling far more comfortable in his own familiar, well-worn clothes, set Duo more at ease. He knew Heero felt the same and shared a smile over bites of apple cobbler, flooded with clotted cream.

"So, you have to tell us how you and Heero got so banged up. A cave… I could never go in one," Quatre said.

"Nor I," Wufei admitted.

Duo watched, amused, as Wufei ensconced himself by the fireside where he could wield the poker to punctuate his comments. Duo guessed he had liked the weight and feel of a sword in his hand, no matter how much he complained about it.

"I've hid in dem, but never gone in far. I'm in awe you did," said Trowa. "How long did it take?"

Duo, mouth full, waved his fork in circles.

"They were in there for three hours at least, no, certainly more than that," Wufei supplied. He jabbed at a log, sending sparks flying.

Duo swallowed and washed it all down with another mug of ale. "Once we got on the other side of the squeeze—ah, that's a real narrow spot—and we got a few feet of crawl space, it wasn't so bad."

"It was better when we could stand, or at least stoop, but that didn't come until the very end, actually," Heero said.

"Hey, there was a cavern or two in-between."

"You should start at the beginning," Wufei suggested.

"It's kinda become one dark blur after another now," Duo said. He swiped his free a hand overhead in an elaborate arch. Heero, he knew would step in again for him and take over getting the story started.

And Heero did. "It's difficult to recollect and tell, because this wasn't one straight through passageway. The cave split off into different passages at several points. We had to investigate them all, usually, to find a way that wasn't a dead end or…impossible. Most of our choices took us on routes winding around rocks and crevasses that came to abrupt dead ends. One tunnel led to small pools of water, which would have been a little fun to explore, under different circumstances."

"So you got dat cut up from climbin' over boulders and de crawling 'round?" Trowa asked, doubtfully. "It look like to me like you been wrestlin' wid wildcats."

"Oh we'll get to the rough parts." Duo decided he'd tell the exciting parts of the story and allow Heero cover the dry stuff. He listened on and off while Heero described the cavern interior, and attended to Wufei's scholarly information, when he shared it.

"Shiny cones of wet-looking, marble-like stone hung down and a like one pointed up from below, sometimes meeting in the middle and making columns."

"Those were stalactites suspended from the ceiling reaching down to stalagmites below. They drip mineral-rich water seeping from the ground above and add layer after layer of the mineral to form what you saw."

"Wu-man, our fountain of knowledge," Duo said. "That stuff's cool."

Wufei hid a smug smile in a cough. "There are formations called soda straws, which also hang from the ceilings of caves, and are extremely fragile hollow stalactite tubes—,"

"Yeah, we saw soda straws, too."

"Yes," Heero agreed. "There also was rock that reminded me of snow glittering in the sun, flowing on the walls."

"That would be flowstone. A truly an awe-inspiring sight." Wufei smiled, brandishing the poker like a baton and taking up, what Duo guessed was, his "teacher's stance." "That cave has to be thousands of years old to have those formations and it is still growing. Other common _speleothems_ include _bacon_ in thin sheets of banded flowstone, _rimstone_ pools, _helictites of _tiny shoots of calcite--,"

"I'll bet we saw those pools—**rim**stone you say, heh, heh…" Duo laughed at the sexual connotation, and noticed Trowa and Quatre did, too.

Wufei continued his discourse, unaware of the homosexual subtext. "You might also find an unusual free-form deposit called _moonmilk_, _anthodites_ that appear as quill-like flowers of aragonite or calcite, and gypsum flowers and needles."

"All in all," Heero said with a shake of his head attempting, as Duo well knew, to subdue the other three. "Aside from the caverns, most of the cave was small, low-ceilinged, wet, and muddy."

Duo suppressed any more comments that might lead the discussion to degenerate more, and simply puckered up and blew his lover an air kiss. Heero accepted it with a frown, and so Duo crammed another humongous bite of cobbler into his mouth so he wouldn't start laughing.

Heero went on with his story. "I remember a lot of fairly steep and slippery crawling around and climbing down short drop-offs into pitch black holes. One section of the cave resembled a hard rock mine. A nearly perfect arch opened into a cavern with pools and a floor flat and easy to walk on. The arched opening rose nearly 10 feet in the air, ending a mere foot below the cave ceiling, where we'd once again be forced to drop onto our hands and knees and get reacquainted with the floor of the cave. After walking a few feet we reached a small level area with a passage leading down immediately to the left. If we ducked under an overhang and knelt upon the rocks that rise above the floor by a few inches we could feel a cool breeze blowing out of a hole."

"Fresh air?" Quatre asked.

"A way out?" was Trowa's quick deduction.

Duo noticed that he had a rapt audience, and that Heero's reporting was just too dry, lacking the dramatic touches a story like that one really needed, so he decided it was time to take over the telling of the tale.

"That's what I was thinking. There was a small passage near the floor that I wanted to check out to see if it was possible to get past it. It had a small opening, but lots of air blowing out of it. It was almost too small to climb through, and I couldn't see inside the passage, so I squeezed head first."

"Putting your least important limb first," Trowa said past a chuckle and avoiding a pinch from Quatre. "W'at? He knows I'm juss pullin' his leg."

Duo gave him a dubious look with a raised eyebrow while he considered a worthy comeback. Heero used the opportunity to move along the story.

"That way led to an underground river so he came back. The uppermost opening was on the side of a cave wall, about four feet from the floor. To get inside, Duo used an overhang of rock to grab onto and swing up."

Afraid Heero would take over his story, Duo jumped back in. "Right, so, I entered a tight passage, which opened up a bit just inside the hole. It continued into a small crawl space. After that it seemed to really open up, although how much I couldn't tell, because of all the loose rock in the way. To get past the crawl space, we'd have to clear the debris and enlarge the opening, which was about the size of my fist."

"Big enough for your head, sure," Trowa muttered, this time with a sly smile to go with it.

Duo showed him his fist. "I know what hole this'll fit in."

"Duo!" Quatre shouted with a long, drawn out "u."

Wufei choked on his drink and flushed to his part at the top of his head. That innuendo he got.

"_Me?_ Why _me_? I was talking 'bout Trowa's big mouth. Geez, you've got a dirty mind, Quat."

Trowa barked a laugh. "He knows you better dan I thought."

"He does not! I wasn't thinking…anything… Well, not anything you weren't!"

"Don't drag me into the gutter wid you… or, hell, go ahead." Trowa bent to the side and mashed Quatre with a wet, sloppy kiss.

"Can we get back to the story?" Wufei asked. "I know you can behave."

"You do?" Duo questioned, sensing a back-story of interest.

The devil must have taken up residence in Trowa's head, because he blurted out, "Chang hogged de bed wid us last night. An' he's got cold feet."

Wufei blubbered something to the negative and blood flooded his face, again.

Heero's eyes narrowed. "You ever hear the term latent homosexual?"

"There's nothing 'homo' about me, latent or otherwise," Wufei asserted tartly.

"Heero!" Quatre said with that stern little edge to his voice Duo thought could bring men like Treize to their knees. "It was all very proper. You weren't alone last night were you? I thought not. Well, he missed his bed warmer and it was all very nice and friendly."

"I'll bet," Duo said, grinning. "He's got this thing for blond—"

"If you have a story to tell, do so, or I shall leave," Wufei threatened, stabbing the poker into another log and sending up _another_ spray of hot, glowing sparks.

Heero let out a giant sigh. "All right. So, to go through the passage Duo chose, we would have a lot of rock clearing to do, but we thought we could do it."

"So," Duo cut in before Heero could take over, "we sat down for a few minutes to rest and think what to do. We still had to haul our gear through the cave."

"Actually you left some of it inside," Wufei reminded him.

"I'll get to that; you'll see why," Duo said with a placating gesture, as if he were calming a nervous colt. He was on his feet now, so he could pace.

Trowa mumbled a "down boy" under his breath, which Wufei pointedly ignored, and the storytelling continued in earnest.

"So, while we sat there in the darkness we could hear the wind howling from the other side of the passage. It was a low, eerie noise (which Duo said in a low, eerie voice.) We could also hear a low rumble from time to time. No big deal, though." Duo smiled and shrugged. "Wind was good. I figured it meant there was an opening to the outside at the other end. And, we had plenty digging to do; damned hard work. What made it worse was that we were both beat in no time moving around rock in this really tight space. So, we'd take short breaks and check out the results of our hard work. Then we'd notice the howling again, which seemed to be a little louder than the first time we'd heard it. We just figured the wind was blowing a little stronger outside. What we couldn't figure out was the rumbling. It, too, seemed to be louder, and more frequent."

"That's creepy," Quatre said with a shiver. "What did the inside look like?"

"The walls were lined with a sharp, white rock."

"That formation is called 'popcorn,'" Wufei informed them.

"Yeah? Let me correct that: it used to be white, but it got covered with dust and dirt from our rock moving. The stuff was sharp, like brushing up against all these tiny razors. I got the scrapes to prove it."

"Was it cold inside the cave?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah, but not worse than outside."

"The temperature is stable year-round," Wufei put in.

"It was a good temperature to work in," Heero said, "but too cold to lie around and do nothing."

"Knee pads would have been real handy, right, 'Ro?"

"And gloves," Heero agreed. "Even where the floor was covered with soft dirt, the thin layer did nothing to soften the blow to our hands and knees after ten minutes down a crawl space."

"Yeah, especially when, as a reward, at the end of a long crawl, I got to scoot on my belly in a tight squeeze."

"That's sounds terrible, Duo!"

"Well, Quat, I haven't even gotten to the bad parts." A wash of dark memory washed over him, sobering his expression. Now, even Trowa seemed to keep his thoughts to himself.

"Without the lanterns all we could see was complete blackness," Heero said. "There would have been no way to get through."

The log popped and resettled sending flickers of flame shooting up the chimney. The added light was welcome even here with friends to talk to. Duo's eyes shifted to the window where snowflakes were falling outside.

Wufei nodded to Heero. "Eyes are capable of at least limited sight even on the darkest night --allowing us to discern, for example, the outline of a hand-- in the total darkness of a cave we are completely blind."

"Yeah. At first," Heero said, "I'd strain my eyes, focusing in and out trying to catch a crumb of light, but after several futile moments I noticed that my other senses took over. The sounds, smells and feelings I'd dampened down just sharpened into perfect detail."

Duo grinned. "Yeah, like the pain in my ass from sitting on the cave floor."

"And the smell of dust, sweat. The sound of our clothes and shoes shifting on age-old rock. Everything." Heero stared off into the distance as if replaying the events in his head. "And at the back of our minds were all these 'What ifs?' What if we had to climb out of the cave with no light. Would we make it? Would we find all of the turns and bends, which got us to the place, or be able to move ahead and not fall into a pit? We knew that no rescue party would find us."

"We'da come fo' you," Trowa insisted. "No matter w'at."

Duo smiled. "Wait til I finish the story and you might think differently."

Quatre shook his head. "No. We stick together."

"Tell them," Heero said to Duo. "It's hard to believe."

"Will do! So, we thought the weird noises might have come from the sound of water deep within the cave. Possibly a waterfall. We couldn't really explain why the noise seemed to come and go, though. To me, solving the mystery was just one more reason to get through."

Heero grunted. "Hn."

"Heero was taking his turn, going deeper into the hole, moving rocks out, enlarging the opening as he went. I was kicking back, almost asleep at the time, and hardly paying attention, but when he came out, I was on full alert and turned up the lamp. See, I had a light by my side to light up the work area. In the weird glow, 'Ro had this puzzled and intense look on his face. He looked over at me and shook his head. He swore he just heard a strange noise coming from beyond the hole."

"It sounded like rock sliding on rock. Sort of a grinding sound. I heard what I heard," Heero said firmly.

"He just sat there while the cave was all quiet before going back to work, so I knew he'd been spooked."

"I was _listening_. And, when I resumed my rock moving, I frequently had to stop from time to time to just listen more. I found the experience to be very disturbing."

"And you all know should know by now that Heero is very grounded and not one to make up some imaginary sound or anything. I believed he heard something, but I wasn't worried about what it was. I assumed we would figure it all out once we got through the passage. I didn't have an explanation, so what could I do about it? Nothing! So I went back to dozing."

"Only _you_ could sleep," Heero muttered, but with a quick smile and a wink.

"You could have gone back the way you went in and, and… Oh, I don't know…walked. I would have walked to meet Wufei," Quatre said.

"We'da froze, bud. We got to where we were by following a series of tunnels. I don't know how long it woulda taken us to get…well, anywhere."

"Oh." Quatre looked so sad, that Duo moved over to his chair and rubbed his shoulders.

"Don't think 'Ro and I didn't consider backing out more than once, but we had this goal at the time." He stepped away and continued his story from atop the window seat. He liked the way the window framed him. "I couldn't have slept more than a couple minutes when I woke with a jolt. It was quiet."

"Like a crypt," Trowa whispered.

"Yeah, exactly, but I didn't think that at the time. Kinda ghoulish even for me, ya know? We did find the right spot to name as Treize's final resting place, but that came later. What I did is poke my head into the tunnel where Heero was working. The _wind _had stopped!"

Breathing had stopped in the room, too. Everyone's eyes were glued to Duo.

"For all of the time we'd been in the cave, that damned wind was blowing outta that hole. The last time I had had my turn clearing out rocks, the wind was blowing worse than ever.

"I liked how the breeze cooled me off," Heero put in.

"Yeah, but then, suddenly, _nothing!_ Heero came out and said he didn't know when it stopped, but it hadn't been for long, he guessed. The rumbling had died away, too, but that, we figured, was a good thing."

"Bizarre," Quatre said. "Wufei, have you any idea what might have caused that rumbling?"

"No," he said simply.

Duo met Chang's dark searching eyes and smiled, sharing a sign of support. "We thought it was pretty weird. Um, yeah. We traded off and I was moving rocks, appreciating how far we'd come, clearing the space, and was lost in my own thoughts, when suddenly… I heard a strange noise. I mean, this was awful."

He ran the fingers of both hands through his bangs, mussing them terribly but they were tickling the bandage Wufei had attached over his largest gash.

"It was loud. Different. It took me several full seconds to grasp that this was coming from inside the opening in front of me. This awful noise was coming **out of the opening** we were working in!"

Quatre scooted his chair so that it was touching Trowa's. "What did you do?"

"I didn't know _what_ to do. I sure thought about backing out of the passage, though." Duo fingered his freshly braided hair, enjoying the soothing feeling a moment. "I'd stopped moving around. Frozen, thinking, just in time to hear the most terrible scream I've ever heard!"

"Oh…" Quatre moaned softly.

"It faded away and echoed on and on. I stared at the hole scared shitless. For several moments I didn't move, or breathe. Then I got the hell outta the tunnel—backwards-- to where Heero was sitting. I was more than ready to scrub the entire plan."

* * *

TBC with the rest of Duo's story very soon

End, Chapter 24


	25. Chapter 25

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Five **

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, shounen-ai, language, rated for eventual yaoi

* * *

Heero took up the story from there, while Duo caught his breath. "I had been lying on the ropes and bag, resting my back—_not_ napping. Now, I was sitting upright, as much as possible in the confined space, and staring at Duo. I thought the scream had come from _him_."

"Well, that explains the freaked-out look on your face. You were there, mouth open, like a fish!"

Duo shook his head and worried the end of his braid with his fingers, fanning the hair into a brush and then twisting it back to a point, over and over. He smiled a little to think how long it had been since he'd done that to control his anxiety. What he needed was a little more Heero-time, he decided. But that wasn't going to happen for awhile, so he sighed deeply and continued on.

"I probably looked the same. I pretty much just sat there and stared into the hole again half expecting to see a demon face staring back at me, but nothing, not a _thing_ had changed in there, in Treize's Tomb."

"That's what we named it," Heero supplied. "It wasn't going to be ours."

"Lord, you boys had it bad in dere. Did somet'ing come out?"

"Heh, heh," Duo chuckled grimly. "Ya gotta wait. _We_ had to! As I stared down that opening, waiting; there was no motion, only darkness past what the lantern lit on. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, but nothing else"

"Not one other sound could be heard in the cave," Heero concurred.

Duo locked eyes with his lover who had shared the terrible adventure with him. "And then suddenly I heard a scraping noise behind me. I nearly knocked myself out hitting my head on the overhang when I straightened up!"

"What _was_ it!" Quatre cried out, ending in a tight little squeak.

"It was just Heero moving to turn on his lamp, but I was so wired it nearly sent me to my grave. Then Heero spoke and I nearly jumped outta my skin."

"I wanted you to take the larger rocks and put them into the hole," Heero explained. "Whatever animal that had made that noise might have been able to get through the opening."

"That sounds like a sound idea," Wufei said offering his input for the first time in a long while. "But then how would you be able to go back through?"

"Didn't matter," Duo used his distressed braid tip to sweep that concern away. "I really needed to do something at the moment, so I grabbed a few big rocks and hoisted them through the opening. I slid the rocks as far back into the tunnel as I could reach, creating a wall between us and the other side. Since the squeeze was so small it didn't take long. I kept thinking about that noise and how I was sure it hadn't come from any animal, like "Ro had said. I didn't know if he really thought it was, or if he was just trying to convince himself. I didn't say anything to him about what I thought either."

The two exchanged communicative gazes. "You didn't need to," Wufei surmised.

Heero shook his head, thinking about what had happened. "Talking about it wouldn't have helped. Since then, though, I have tried to come up with some possible source for such a noise. It was a cross between a man screaming in fear, and a cougar screaming in pain. It sounded like it came from the hole and was roughly 100 feet away. The horrific noise reverberated through the cave, and through my ears for, I'd estimate 8-10 seconds. It was hard to tell."

"It is _difficile_ to tell how much time passes w'en you're listening to a solo from de bowel of Hades," Trowa said. His hollow tone made Quatre shiver and snuggle partway onto his lap.

"No shi-it. I know all this is probably hard to swallow, um, it is for me…_really._" His voice was hoarse and he looked around for his mug.

Wufei gazed darkly in Trowa's direction. Duo wondered if he was pissed about Quatre snuggling in Trowa's arms, and if that meant anything. "Pass me that pitcher of ale, please. Maxwell needs a refill."

Trowa shrugged, arms full.

"What happened next?" Quatre asked and assisted filling everyone's mug, since he was between Trowa and his reach of the table.

After a long guzzle of ale, Duo said, "Well, after I filled the back of the passage with about five rocks, we just sat there listening to the silence, except for my panting. Oh sure I considered throwing in the towel about then, but neither of us spoke. **It** stayed quiet, and we knew we couldn't just sit there forever, but we didn't want to move. We knew we had to remove the rock barrier eventually to get on. It was Heero who finally pulled himself together and said we should just take a whack at it and get it over with—"

"You don't mean you went BACK down that _hole_ where the scream came out?! How _could_ you?" Quatre cried out.

"No choice. We would have to keep an eye out for movement ahead, but going through or backing out were our only choices, at the time," Heero put in. "And I volunteered to remove the rock blockade and put a light at the far end of the passage that would shine to the back of Trieze's Tomb."

"The wind had stopped and the rumbling was gone. To say I was nervous woulda been an understatement. I didn't say anything to Heero, nor did he."

"There was nothing good _to_ say. I just took over the work."

"Which was fine with me. I wasn't exactly worn out, but I didn't mind being further from that hole. Heh, heh… So I waited. I could hear you scraping rocks and then stopping every so often."

"I was _listening_."

"And I was _sitting_, watching you busting your ass down in the tunnel, with my light _on_. Every time my light cast some bizarre shadow, though, my heart would jump. My imagination was running wild. He seemed a lot less bothered overall about the strange noise than me."

"I wasn't _in_ the passage when the noise came out, not like you were," Heero said in explanation. "I became totally absorbed with rock moving and on getting through the passage."

"Gotta love his ability to focus under the gun, 'cause there I was straining to hear some kinda warning sound, totally unable to move. I heard nothing but the sound of Heero scraping stone on stone."

"I know you, you were contemplating the possible scenarios which might play out on the other side of the passage," Quatre said with a friendly smile.

"I guess so, 'cause after a bit I got excited again about getting through the tunnel."

"Maybe it was fatigue takin' its toll on your mind," Trowa suggested with an understanding smile.

"Maybe, heh, heh…"

"But you got through," Quatre was quick to point out.

"Right. Heero came back out and suggested I might give it a shot, being the resident cave expert that I was. If the tunnel narrowed too much, then it was a dead end and we'd have to back out. God, I hated to think it had all been a waste so far. But that kinda thinking was loser stuff, so as I got to thinking about the best way to enter Treize's Tomb so that when I got to the narrowest places, I was taking up the least space possible."

Duo flattened his back against the windowpane, feeling the icy cold through his shirt, which wasn't unlike that of the cave passage he was describing. "Hey, I can show you how I did it!"

He arranged his body into position as he described it.

"I placed one arm over my head, turning my head sideways like this, and slowly worked my way in. But I could see that this wasn't going to work any better than not doing it if the hole got really small. If I was going to make it in without widening the hole any more, I was going to have to put both arms over my head, in a diving position, like this, and turn my head sideways, and 'slip' into the tomb. The width would be the limiting factor. The height was sufficient. The arms-overhead position flared my shoulder blades out, but there was still room to get through and room for a wider-shouldered Heero, too. Plus, the arms-overhead gave me the best squeeze side to side."

"Dear, Lord, you didn't actually try doing that, did you?" Quatre burst out.

"He did," Heero said. "He had little choice. Also, I did tie my rope to his feet, just in case I'd have to pull him out."

"See? We had everything covered!"

Trowa shook his head. "Yeah, in solid rock."

"Yeah, well, that's true, too, heh heh… Where was I? Oh, yeah, so I took a shot at it getting the usual minor scrapes and scooted along, passing where I'd last worked pretty easily. Heero'd done a super job making the space bigger, but I could still feel the rocks touching all around my shoulders and chest. It was not stopping me, but I was definitely scraping up my body. I decided to just push through, keeping in mind that I was gonna to have to come back out eventually. The pain wasn't too bad, and I was in! Well, my upper body was in. At least I could get a good idea what the tomb was gonna to be like."

Duo hopped down and demonstrated his technique on the floor using the sitting room couch to squeeze under. "Even though this was the largest part of the crawl, it was still small. I could move my head around freely, but every direction that I turned I was staring at a wall of solid rock."

"Unbelievable," Wufei gasped.

"It's mind-boggling that he could do that and not lose his mind," Winner agreed.

"Who's ta say he didn't?"

"Trowa!" Quatre jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow. "You're untamable today."

Duo smiled as he watched Trowa whispered in his lover's ear and get the reaction he certainly must have been looking for. A flushed-faced Quatre settled back quietly, and turned his face toward the window. Judging the time to bed, perhaps?

"When he spoke to me," Heero said, "his voice sounded muffled, like he was talking in a small box."

"I could rest my chest on the passage floor, but the rocks were uncomfortable. I turned my head to look further ahead, but couldn't see past a wall of rocks we hadn't yet cleared out. We'd have to move them before Heero'd be able to get in. I didn't know if I could squeeze through the end of the passage or not if it narrowed more. The entire time I was in the passage, Heero was just kicking back, listening to my descriptions and progress reports."

"I was watching your ass," he chuckled.

"Not much of a show in the dark."

"It was all I had."

"Up to this point the size of the passage wasn't too big a deal. My arms could move freely; I was pretty chill. Then it was time for a push."

Quatre groaned. "This is just too awful for me to fathom you doing this."

"In order to rotate my hips to the best angle to pass I had to lean my upper body on my forearms, use my feet to climb the wall outside the hole, and slowly 'crawl' into the hole. My hips barely fit. Once they cleared one tight spot, I could relax a bit and get in position to work toward the squeeze. I decided to try the one-arm-forward technique to get through. The passage was so narrow that whatever position I started with I would have to stay with through the entire length. There was just no room to move around or change positions. I would also have to turn my head one way or another, and keep it in the same position. This crawl was tight as virgin ass, ah… sorry 'Fei!"

Wufei blasted him with a hot glare. "You just ruined the entire experience for me."

"Sorry, dude, really. Just slipped out, heh heh… ah shit, well, anyway… Moving forward at this part of the passage was okay, but it became out-and-out clear that we were gonna to have to remove more fuckin' rocks, because I was constantly scraping my chest on rocks. They were sharp and it was starting to hurt like hell. But, other than that, I boogied fast down that first little bit of the crawl, appreciating that little bit of breathing room I had.

"Then the walls started to close in around me. I had a few extra inches on each side, but the top of the crawl was getting very low. I could feel the top rubbing my back as I would arch. After another 1/2 foot I couldn't arch anymore. If it got any lower, the lantern wouldn't fit and I didn't think Heero would either. I had to just push ahead with my toes and pull with my forward arm. I decided it would be a good time to see if I could back out. I tried it and it was pretty easy. That gave me a lot more confidence. And, I did have Heero at the other end of that rope attached to my feet.

"Just to add to my other aches and pains, my neck was starting to get sore from being cranked to the side. If I opened my eyes, I was staring at the wall just 4-5 inches from my face. Most of the time I wasn't watching the wall. Either I had my eyes closed or the light wasn't shining in a direction that did me any good."

"Did you hear that scream again?" Quatre asked.

"All this time it was very quiet," Heero stated.

"Yeah, in the tomb, other than my own heavy breathing it was quiet--"

"--As the proverbial tomb."

"Thanks 'Fei. Yeah. Quiet, which was good, and wind was back and cooled me off. Oh, yeah, and I could gauge the size of the passage that my body would soon pass through by lifting my head and carefully touching the ceiling from time to time."

"Much like a cat using it's whiskers to gauge an opening in a fence," Wufei noted. He had long left off teasing the fire into a fury and was seated on the hearth, soaking up the warmth.

"Yeah, just like that! And that's how I could tell things were about to get real tight."

"How could it get tighter and you even move? I can't… I couldn't have done it, that's all. Just couldn't." Quatre used Trowa's arms like a blanket and wrapped them firmly around his shoulders. "Never."

"Well, while lying in the darkness, in a passage deep within a cave, one is in a unique position to ponder," Wufei remarked. "I assume Duo did some thinking as well."

"No shit."

"What with a mountain literally resting on top of him and the entire earth lying below, just one tiny movement of earth and he would cease to exist. Trapped deep within the heart of Mother Earth, incapable of freeing himself from his earthen prison—"

"Um, Fei'? I didn't really dwell on that 'being imprisoned' part much, but I did think."

"About what?" Wufei asked. He dropped the haughty tone and sounded sincerely curious.

"How to move!" Duo arranged himself on the floor under a low table to complete the scene. "Picture yourself in my position: lying on your stomach your left arm is extended over your head. Your right arm is at your side, having only a few inches in which to move. Your arms and hands are sore and bleeding from crawling across broken rocks. Your entire body is resting on the rocks. Once you start again, you have to push with your toes to scoot your body forward, sliding across the rocks. After moving a few inches you are breathing hard and have to rest. As you inhale you can feel your back pressing hard against the top of the squeeze. It takes several minutes before you recover enough to press forward. The entire time you are lying there you think about how you are going to get back out. And, what if...?"

"Duo, that's just too terrible to conceive of," Quatre said with a voice clogged with emotion.

"Well, that's pretty much what I was going through at that point in the passage." He'd left everyone with something to puzzle out, so he took a few moments to run to the table, empty his mug, and catch his breath, before returning to his story.

"When I reached the point where my back was rubbing and I could feel with my head the passage was not getting bigger. It wasn't looking too good for getting through. Still, I decided to give it one more push. I was pretty pumped. I took a few minutes to rest, and then I went for it. I exhaled completely all of the air in my lungs. This caused my chest to collapse enough to scoot forward a few inches. Because it takes so much effort to scoot I only went a few inches before I had to stop and breathe. As I inhaled, my chest pressed hard against the floor and my back against the top. It took a little longer to get my breath back. Unbelievably, I did it again!

"Exhale, scoot, rest.

"Again, only a few inches.

"Repeat.

"I took a few extra minutes to 'enjoy' this position," he grinned.

"Pinned in a piddlin'-poor passage," Trowa said, grinning in return.

"Yeah, good one. Wow, you know, thinking back, I can't believe how relaxed I was! Anyway, I tried one more time to exhale and scoot. My back was rubbing too much to continue, though. Despite the failed effort, I was psyched. Heero had been encouraging me the entire time. I could hear him cheer as he saw my shoes go deeper and deeper into the hole."

"That was me screaming at you to get _out_," Heero said.

"Yeah, heh, heh… I know. And I figured that if we cleared more rock, I'd give it another try, so I backed out."

"I would have yanked you out by the rope, but I didn't want to skin you."

"Which was _good_. I did a first-rate enough job on myself. After struggling to find a good position I gave up and just pulled my upper body out."

"SCRAAAAPE!" Trowa provided the sound effects with nails on the table top and Quatre punched him. "Stop that!"

"Oof! Yer a testy little bugger today." Trowa didn't look too bothered by that, Duo thought, and imagined the two of them tussling in the sheets and blushed thinking about where his head could take him sometimes.

"Anyway, my shirt got pulled up over my head, and I had some nice scrapes on my shoulders, but I didn't care. To me the trip was a success. I had pushed myself beyond what I though was possible. Between the work and the excitement, I was pretty crapped out, so I just sat on the rope bag, grinning—_Shazzam!_"

"Like a jack-ass eatin' briars," Trowa chuckled. "I know dat look."

"Whew! What a trip!" Quatre said, sounding relieved.

"But is wasn't over by a long shot, Quat; we were just getting _started_," Duo assured him.

"If only we had _stopped_ and really examined the cavern we were in _then_, and not later," Heero said, sighing. "But I took my turn and doggedly cleared out rock. I crawled through that damned passage and went through what Duo pretty much described, moved more rocks, until I thought I could make it."

"For the second try I claimed first rights to go again. I wanted to get out of that hell hole!" Duo said with a hand-slam to the tabletop, making Quatre jump from Trowa's lap and nearly land on the floor.

"Once I got my upper body through the hole I shined the light ahead of me to work out a plan of attack. The passage didn't seem any bigger than last time I was there, but Heero'd cleared deeper in the squeeze. Once my toes were inside the cave I used them to push forward. To keep from scraping my body I would 'walk' using my shoulders, knees and toes, slow but steady.

"A foot or two before the tight spot I could already tell there was a lot more wiggle room. Even so, I began to touch the roof of the passage with my back. This time, however, I was able to keep moving forward. I reached the lowest point in the passage and I could tell it was still going to be tricky. Even with the work 'Ro'd done clearing out the loose rocks, I still felt sharp pebbles rolling under my chest as I slid along.

"When I could feel my back brushing the top of the passage in several places, I reverted to my technique of exhaling. Before I began, though, I took a minute to lay there in the passage. Rays of Heero's light managed to get past my body so it wasn't all dark. I could feel the cool breeze evaporate the drops of dirty sweat on my forehead. I could feel a thousand sharp edges dig into the surface of my skin. But nothing killed the excitement I got from thinking 'Holey mackerel, this could be it!' It made me want to keep moving, no matter how tight the passage became. I breathed in and out rapidly for a few moments, and then began.

"Exhale.

"Scoot.

"Stop to catch my breath.

"Repeat.

"After just a few inches of scooting, I could raise my head off the floor of the squeeze and tell that the passage was opening up! I relayed this back to Heero and we both took a few seconds to celebrate. During the rest of the slide through the passage, Heero cheered me on."

"I was so …hopeful," Heero said.

"Was?" Quatre said in a weak whine.

"So was I! Anything like progress was so fucking sweet! Still, even though the passage was beginning to get larger, moving was still glacial. I had to continue scooting along for another foot and a half before I could slide my arms underneath me to use them to crawl. I kept thinking that my journey was about over, and then I was able to sit up some and move the last of the rock 'wall' we had erected earlier.

"Those rocks served as a somber reminder that a little caution would be wise," Heero whispered.

"Ooh, no, Wufei, stop that!" Quatre moaned, regaining his place fully seated on Trowa's lap. "I just know this is going to go bad now."

"Yeah, well, shit. Anyway, that last push did it."

"De mountain gave bir't to a bouncing baby Maxwell."

"Sure, 'Tro, something like that. Geez, wadda comedian. So, I shouted back to Heero that I was through! We both took a moment to congratulate ourselves on our success. I gave him a description of what the cave looked like, even though I couldn't see far into the passage. There was a gentle right turn and then it seemed to go for a ways, but all I had to go by was the little light from Heero's lamp at the far end. I was unable to do anything at this point but sit, due to the size of the passage.

"A lot of the broken rocks we had pushed through Trieze's Tomb were around me, but there were no other signs of human intrusion. This bothered me to no end-- and it should have bugged me more. I started to wonder how this could ever have been some kind of escape route from the governor's place, but let it go in favor of getting a move on.

"Heero had tied the end of the rope to my leg, remember? And I had pushed my lamp through the squeeze. After I got the light fired up, the only thing I could see was a narrow passage with a low ceiling. I would easily be able to get through it, but I would have to crawl—like that would be a problem, right?

"At the end of the crawl, the cave bent slightly to the right. I climbed up a gentle slope and was able to stand by the end of the next section of cave. Not only could I stand, but I could move my arms. The floor was covered in rock, which crunched as I crawled, and then walked across it, while the walls were basically the same popcorn stuff, except pristine white. It was obvious no one had been there before me, but… well I was caught up in the moment to much to think, I guess, 'cause that was significant.

"You were distracted," Heero commented.

"Right. That, too. I was not even through the second section of cave and I could barely hear Heero."

"Caves passages are not acoustically friendly," Wufei commented.

"Right… I shouted to 'Ro that I would go for a bit then return. He said that would be fine, and to be careful."

"I said to come back and I'd go with you, idiot."

"Bad acoustics, like Chang said," Trowa said with a tight smile.

"Like you say--," Duo chuckled. "Yeah, so, with his blessing, I explored some more. I could walk nearly upright at this point, when I discovered a bunch of crystals stuck together on the wall to my right. It was in several layers on the wall, with this clear candle wax looking stuff that seemed to melt and drip down the wall. There were several of these, the longest was about the size of my hand. There would have been one much longer, judging by the size of the base, but it had broken off. I looked to see if I could locate where it ended up, maybe collect it? But I couldn't find it."

Duo's shoulders sagged and he looked down at the floor, then at his cutup hands. "I also couldn't find where the passage continued on. And the rope wouldn't stretch any further, which made me think Heero was signaling me to go back; you know, reeling me in. Anyway, that put the kibosh on it at that point--I had reached another dead end."

"How disappointing after all that hard work!" Quatre and Duo shared a commiserating glance.

"Yeah, it was."

"And then it happened." Heero bent his head and studied his empty mug, avoiding everyone's stares.

"What?!" Quatre cried out. "What happened?"

"From behind me I heard this scraping noise."

"Oh, no! Duo!"

"It was loud. It was _close_! It was coming from the large room I had just left! I wheeled around to face whatever had made that noise. When I did, I forgot where I was and stood up at the same time."

"Crunch!" Trowa remarked. "Ouch."

"You got it, 'bro. My head crashed into the passage ceiling. My lantern bounced against the wall and blinked out, and I was buried in the heavy darkness. Pain shot through my neck and down into my back. Fear enveloped me and my knees began to weaken, and buckle and..."

"Oh, no!" came a whimper from Quatre. Trowa's low crooning became a background murmur, softening the blow, the memory of all the pain the empath had felt the night before, and bringing him peace of mind.

"Somehow, I got my shit together to set down the lantern _gently_ even though I was seeing stars from the pain in my upper back. The scraping noise lasted only a coupla seconds, and now the only sound I could hear was my own freaked out breathing. Not only could I feel the fear crowdin' my chest but also the dark held me in place. I felt—"

"Like you was on de chopping' block, non?"

"He was vulnerable from every direction," Wufei snapped. "Anyone would be frozen in fear under the circumstances."

"Yeah, thanks," Duo said. "I wanted to turn and look behind me, and to the side of me, and in front of me. But everywhere I looked, I saw black."

Quatre whimpered and covered his face with his arms, "I felt that."

"Sorry, bud. Couldn't help it. I did finally I crack through the… stupor of terror long enough to reach for a match. The first one I struck, wouldn't light. I nearly cried! I had forgotten to put fresh matches in my pockets and I'd be lucky if I'd find one that wasn't damp. I tried two more until one took and I lit the lantern. It was better than nothing. In the lamp light, I strained to get a glimpse of any movement in the room."

"Nothing."

"Yeah, nothing, like 'Ro said. I was shaking like crazy sitting there trying to figure out what to do. My mind went all zooie and mungy—don't ask. I honestly thought I was going to die right there in the cave. I was nearly sobbing with fear. I knew the only way out of here was back the way I came. But SOMETHING was there! There was no way call to Heero, so I tried to think of another plan, but I could only focus on the memories of that grinding sound. I slumped against the side of passage, breathing as if I had just ran a marathon and never breaking eye contact with the shadows. As my shoulder touched the wall I had a powerful jolt of pain remind me of my run-in with the roof of the cave."

"Despair, agony, terror," Quatre intoned. "I felt those. I didn't know they were coming from you."

"Wufei was fighting off guards that followed him, so what you felt was probably a mixed bag coming from all of us." Heero tucked his hands in his pockets and slouched deeper into his chair.

"I can't say exactly how long I sat there, but my feet were tingling and my knees were sore. The pain in my back crept lower, although my neck felt no different. I resolved to move and exit that fucking passage alive. Screw the thing in there with me! I knew if I waited too long I would lose what little light I had. I couldn't stand straight; I didn't have the strength, so I crawled slowly to the near end of the large room, dragging one end of my rope beside me and keeping the lantern upright in front. I think knowing that Heero was at the other end of that rope was all the supplied me with the resolve to go on."

Duo smiled wanly at his lover before proceeding. "I used the walls of the cave to cling to for support, and got into a kinda hunched over position. That got me to breathing rapidly, so I stood there a minute. I had dropped the rest of the rope at some point and I could see it trailing off into the murky distance. I knew I wasn't going to feel any better waiting, so I plodded across the room. My eyes were staring straight ahead, straining for any signs of movement. With every step my light would cast damned creepy shadows on the wall, keeping me busy trying to look at every one. My eyes burned from not blinking.

"_How many? How long had this been going on, _I wondered?"

"The only sounds I could hear were the crunch of my feet on the broken rock, and the wheezing of my breath. And I reeled in my rope, each step bringing me closer to the tomb."

"Closer to Heero," Quatre said.

"Closer to safety, was my thought," Wufei put in.

Trowa just summarized what they were thinking with "Same thing."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking to keep going. But that short trip through the room took me forever. Everything about that cave seemed to give off fear vibes. And at the far end of the room, I could just barely see the round rock. Something seemed different about it, but I couldn't tell what."

"What round rock?" Wufei asked.

"Didn't I mention that? Oh, well, it was by the crystals. Big round rock near the wall. Had to go around it to get by. It didn't seem awesome or anything, considering the crystals the first time I went past it. But going back--,"

Duo's face fell into a dark expression, remembering the experience. "When I got within a few feet of the thing, I could finally tell what had changed. It had moved! THAT was the sound I heard."

"Moved? What-- the rock!" Quatre slipped off Trowa and ran to Duo, taking him in his arms. "The rock?!"

"Yes! I was absolutely terrified! I realized how close I was to... something, but I had no choice but to continue on."

"How did you get the courage to move?"

"Well, Quat, I gotta tell ya, it was _no_t easy. I inched toward the rock, holding the lantern ahead of me while my hand was shaking like mad. I stopped just this side of the rock and wound up the slack in the rope, and then it stretched tight. The **rock** was sitting on the rope. There's no way in _hell _that it accidentally slipped under a rock the size of, well, the sofa there! It had to have weighed tons, right?"

"Yes…" Quatre's answered in a weak voice. "But…how?" An answer must have come to mind because his face paled in the golden glow of the fire. "AH!"

Trowa hushed him with quiet word, and pulled him to the couch where they could sit comfortably close. "Den w'at?"

"I used my knife to cut it free and wrapped the loose stuff around my waist. Good thing I only lost a couple feet of rope, because I'd need all I could get later. Right 'Fei?"

"Yes, for the climb down. That was close."

Duo sighed and locked eyes again with Heero. "I had never felt so alone and helpless."

"Buried deep below, voluntarily in, his casket of rock." Wufei stooped and looked at Quatre who had clicked his tongue in a disparaging way. "It's a _poem_!"

"A famous haiku, in fact," Heero commented. "When I felt the rope go slack, my heart stopped." From the look on his face everyone could believe he meant it.

"That's why I tied the other cut end right back onto my ankle as fast as possible."

"I know, and when you tugged three times, my heart started beating again."

"W'at about de rock?"

"Oh, my eyes never left that fucking round rock. My breathing was rapid, my throat dry as ashes and aching and my mouth had gone all dusty. With every crunch of the rock below my feet my heart tried to jump through my throat."

"Did you see anything?" Quatre asked.

"Well, in the glow of my lantern, nothing moved. Nothing. I passed the rock—"

"Boulder."

"Thanks Wu-man. _Boulder_, then_,_ in several rapid steps."

"Dat's 'quick like de gator'."

Duo stared at them both. One, then the other until they looked down, abashed, then he smiled. "Okay, I slipped past the boulder quick as a shit-assed gator, and when I reached the other side I jumped back in **horror** at what I saw."

"What, WHAT?" Quatre shouted, standing again.

"In the side of the passage near the floor was a hole-- with **another** passage revealed. It had been _covered _by the rock! BUT NOW IT WAS EXPOSED!"

"De rock. You t'ink it moved, really? How could de rock have moved by itself?"

"I wondered that myself, and I gotta tell you, I didn't like any of the answers I was coming back with. So, I backed away from the hole and collided with the opposite wall. I hadn't been paying attention to the pain in my back, but now it came back to me in all its fury. I stared down the newly discovered, passage."

"You did go _down_ that, did you Duo? Tell me you went back the way you came! "

"Not immediately, he didn't," Heero told their sensitive friend. "He was—"

"Nuts."

"Crazy."

"An idiot."

"All those and more," Duo agreed. "Probably I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I just wanted to get _one_ little look. I held up the light and could see that the hidden passage went down sharp and continued straight for as far as I could see. The lamp lit up the passage enough that I could tell the walls were fairly smooth, cut. The floor seemed to be the same way, unlike the rest of the cave. The passage was about 3 feet around as far as I could see. It would have been an easy passage to explore, if I'd had the least desire to do so."

"That passage sounds unnatural," Wufei declared. "Manmade."

"My thinking as well, and right then I wanted out of that cave and into the daylight, er, moonlight, more than anything else in the world. I slowly backed away from the hole thinking all the time about returning to Heero. I never took my eyes off the abyss. I nearly tripped over the dangling bit of rope in my hand as I turned to leave, and noticed how dark it was getting. My lantern was practically dead! I wanted to sprint back to Trieze's Tomb and from there to Heero. I _really_ needed to hear the sound of his voice.

"As I turned away from the large rock and the hole, I felt this total sense of **panic** fill my entire world, like I'd stepped under an ice-cold waterfall. Like a mob of demons was about to attack me from behind! I felt like my salvation lie ahead of me and Lucifer was behind me, trying to hold be back. I found myself sprinting faster than I shoulda been able to. My only thought was to get out _pronto_. I remember, vaguely, passing the crystal formation, barely even noticing its beauty this time.

"Every time I ducked to avoid a rock I felt my back scream it's reminder of my injury. When I got to the point in the passage where I had to crawl, I put out the lantern, and dumped it, flinging myself down on all fours, barely slowing down as I dropped. When my hands hit the cave floor a shock shot all the way down my back and down my arms. For the first time since this nightmare had begun, I let out a scream. I crumpled down and lay there on the rock, with new levels of pain coming at me every time I breathed, whimpering from fear and pain, and listening for any other noise in the cave. The silence pounded in my head, but then I felt this calm presence. I knew that Heero was still out of earshot, but he was _close._

"Forcing myself to move was killing me. I winced as I pulled my body along the cave. I grabbed onto the loose end of the rope so it wouldn't catch up on anything, but I gave up checking behind me, and focused totally ahead of me.

"I reached the point where I could yell, but I didn't want to stop long enough to talk yet. When I reached the last stretch of cave before the squeeze, crawling toward the beginning of the 'tomb,' that's when I called to Heero."

"God, when I heard that call…" Heero's voice cracked with emotion. "It had been too long since you'd left and I knew something was wrong by the sound of your voice. I answered back, and then you screamed for me to get everything ready to go. I asked if you were okay, and when you said no, I felt sick."

"That's right. I told you 'no,' 'cause I wasn't okay, and said to get everything ready to go because _there was something in the cave __**with**__ us_!" Duo's voice still held some of the terror he had felt at the time. Reliving the horror was upsetting him and he choked up, losing _his_ voice.

"Sit." Heero pulled him to a chair at the table. As he poured out the last of the ale for Duo, he took up the story. "Luckily, while Duo was risking his life in total terror, I discovered **the other** passage. It was completely out of sight from below, but I had to move around while waiting, and, so, I had climbed onto the outcropping, and then to another shelf of rock, and found this big opening about three feet high. It looked as if it had been used, but not recently by the settling of dust over the threshold."

Heero sighed. "When I studied it carefully, I found two holes that looked to have been man-made below the opening. I think wooden pegs once fit in the holes, from which a rope ladder might have hung, at one time. So, while Duo caught his breath, I told him about the alternate route."

The drink restored his voice and Duo could talk again. "Man, I was so stoked to get outta there and that news was like manna from heaven. You had some 'splaining to do, but that could wait till later."

"You seemed saner after that, which was why I let you lead. I also intended to be right behind you, because that was going to be our last chance. We'd either get through together or not at all."

Heero wiped a hand on a thigh and kneaded a strained muscle. Duo hadn't forgotten that the trip had wounded him, too, and so he nudged Heero with his hip in a comradely gesture and coaxed a smile from him.

"My lantern oil was running low and I noticed that Duo had jettisoned his already at some point. He was limping and bleeding so I asked about his status again."

"And I'll bet he said he was A-okay," Quatre said with a chuckle.

"Almost exactly."

"Well, hey? My back ached with every move I made. I knew it didn't matter, though. I was going to get up to that high passage as fast as I could, injuries not withstanding. And wouldn't you know it, just as I started to climb, the wind came a-blowing up from the tomb and with it the most nauseating stench I have ever stumbled upon, and I have slept in sewers… Well, it smelled like damp, rotting, rancid, putrid, DEATH. I almost started to dry-heave. I pulled my shirt up over my nose. Damn it wasn't the God-awful smell.

"I smelled it too," Heero said.

"Yeah, you started yelling 'what is that?' as if I knew shit for pancakes!"

Trowa and Quatre exchanges curious looks and Wufei snarled, "Don't' expect me to translate L2 slang," but his voice carried no malice, and then he smiled fractionally to prove it.

"I was urging you to move your ass," Heero corrected him.

"Oh, well I told you I was going as fast as my aching head would let me, then I took a deep breath through my shirt, finished the climb, and waited at the opening for you to hand me the bags and your lantern, mine being left in the other passage, useless, if you recall."

"And when I reached Duo, I tied the pack with the plans to his rope and told him to pull it through. Then I told him to start heading into the tunnel-- that I would catch up with him when I got through."

"You sure were ordering me around a lot, I know _that_." Duo smiled wanly.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you…" Heero paused and settled a soft look on Duo, which melted away all the chilling memories. "… but I was anxious."

"Yeah, well it really heaped on more fear and panic, as if I needed any more, but I get where you were coming from. I mean, I had my own brain failure going and was working at getting us out of that place. I didn't mention my bum head and back and boo-boos, which probably would have made a difference, huh, 'Ro?"

"Boo-_boos_?" Trowa crooned in the background.

"I would have taken the lead and pulled you through, had I known!" Heero assured him.

"Hard to tell w'ich is de leader wid d'oes two."

"They take turns," Quatre whispered back. His eyes slid askance over to Duo. "You do, er, did in the cave, didn't you?"

"We _always_ do," Heero said, effectively ending the subtle inferences.

"Which was _why_ I didn't complain. I was hurting, but I could control the speed being in front. With every step, pain shot through my lower back and my neck. My arms were shredded and my shoulder had a nice gash in it. I couldn't see my head, but I know that was sporting a cut or two. I honestly believe that were it not for the terror I felt at the time I would not have had wherewithal to climb out. I was running on pure excitement, which was about to end."

"But you got out!" Quatre insisted.

"We sure did. That upper passage 'Ro discovered was the ticket. You see, most of our hours in the cave had been fucking _wasted_ moving rocks and squeezing through freakin' rat-ass sized holes. Once we got into that tunnel, we moved like hell-on-wheels. Heero took the packs and I took the lantern. We crawled until it opened up so we could run stooped over."

"Duckwalking," Quatre said. "You called it that before. I think that's very descriptive."

"Hn," Heero said dismissively. "Duo? I think I only had the one bag by then, ditching mine with a few spare things-- like my coat-- when we had to get through a tight spot. We had about a half an hour of relatively easy climbing then crawling the rest of the way."

"Yeah, but we were moving like shit on a skillet all the way. I didn't see or hear Heero until I reached the final drop that would take us out of the cave. I called out to him when I could see moonlight, and I could tell he was as tense as I was when he told me to start climbing down and not wait for him. Of course, I didn't; I had the only lantern. We both knew that would be too dangerous and not something we would ever normally do. I stood there looking down at the rock fall like it was a red carpet to freedom and waited for him to join me."

"You danced around in the moonlight. I didn't see how you had the energy for that."

"Did I? heh heh Don't even remember doing that. In front of me was my link to the outside--to light and, safety. Behind me was darkness, fear, the unknown. I'd cheated death and that made me like the God of Death! And for a fucking fleeting moment I had the feeling that I had outwitted the monster and had reached the front door of the haunted house."

"Just as he reaches for de knob he hears a sound behind him and turns, only to see..."

"Trowa! Stop that! I'm already plenty creeped out."

"Sorry, love."

"When I caught up to you, it was just in time. As we started the climb out when you nearly fell a couple times."

"I was getting all weak. That little dance musta've used up everything. I managed to recover enough to get myself down the last few feet without breaking a leg, though."

"You did and then we heard Chang's voice from far below. He had our horses and that's when we learned we had to use our ropes to climb about 60 feet down a cliff before we were done."

"Without 'Ro I never woulda done that. I never woulda made it."

Quatre let out a loud sigh. "That's the most romantic thing I've heard you say."

"Well, I…ah…" and Duo felt the tips of his ears burn. "I can be romantic."

"Please, not now," Wufei said, interrupting. "You're almost done with the story. You can romance it up when you're done."

"Ya mean that?" Duo said, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"In private," Wufei insisted.

"In that case," Heero put in, "I'll hurry this along."

He smiled a sly little smile Duo's way and then went on. "We had exited the cave, and through a series of steps, bound together enough rope to reach nearly to the bottom where Wufei stood. I lowered Duo and then I sent down the things we still had with us. When it was my turn, I rappelled slowly because I could hear the tension in the rope as a stretching noise. I couldn't believe that the rope would break; it wasn't damaged. But I hoped it would hold up with me still attached to it. The second that I reached bottom, I untied it from my waist and thought about climbing up the cliff and feet yards only just enough to recover some of the rope. But then I saw Duo kneeling down by Wufei, the lantern making his features glow and he looked so… pale. I limped over to him and collapsed."

"You were a mess, too, 'Ro. For the first time in a long while we could really see each other. We just stared. I knew I looked like shit, but didn't know that he was in such bad shape."

"Oh, he was nothing as bad as you looked," Wufei said. "Duo had cuts and scrapes on every exposed surface of his body, which was a lot since his clothes were in shreds. His face was pale, almost white. His mouth and his eyes were wide open. He was breathing heavily. Almost gasping. He was going into shock and we had a 15 mile ride yet to go. That is why I had them both in a bath the minute we got in."

"You did?" Trowa managed to instill all the innuendo possible into his question.

"Not me-- them!" Wufei said with a sharp tone to stifle any further discussion.

"Yeah, well, the real shock came when we saw the rope move."

"How did the rope move? Wasn't it tied to something up at the cave on top?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah, _tied_. It shouldn't have been moving. Maybe swaying in the wind, but this wasn't like that. I was frozen in place. Overwhelmed with fright."

"I watched the knot on the end rise in the air." Wufei shook his head. "Simply transfixed at the sight."

"We all were," Heero said. "It started slow, and then suddenly the end of the rope zipped up and over the edge of the cliff, the speed of it causing a humming noise as it went. Watching the rope fly over the edge was— it brought back the feelings I had, when the rope attached to you went slack."

"It wasn't doing anything good for me at the time either."

"You were both just laying there, wide eyed, staring until the point the rope disappeared. I didn't know anything about what had transpired inside that cave-- not until just now. I thought the governor's guards had materialized outside the cave and were about to come barreling down that cliff after us." Wufei's eyes widened and he repeated himself, methodically. "So when your rope disappeared up that cliff… I thought Trieze's guards had found us, were _after_ us, but, that… that might not have been so!"

Duo chimed in with a sing-song voice, "I _told_ you there was _some_thing _in _the cave."

"But did you ever see anything come _out_ it?" Quatre was quick to ask.

"No," Heero said.

"Not after the rope trick. We did some shouting at each other, which seemed to break the trance, and we got on our horses and got away from the cave and the left the whole fucking nightmare behind us." Duo stopped and smiled. "And that's what I did on my summer vacation."

"Oh, you! Very funny," Quatre chuckled. "That was very spooky and horrible for you, I'm sure. I felt some of it! But I got to thinking…,"

"Me, too," Trowa interrupted. "Dat rope trick, might have been juss dat. In de circus we have dis rope that's made twisted so w'en it's stretched too far and den released… it snaps back. Coulda been somthin' like dat, non?"

"Maybe," Heero said cautiously.

"Very possible, I would think." Quatre liked that reasoning and brightened. "Actually, I've been thinking about the purpose of that underground tunnel."

"Beyond being a secret escape path?"

"Yes, what if that's a place where the dead bodies of his enemies get stored. When Duo passed by that round rock, boulder, he might have sprung some kind of mechanism that made the rock move, or it might have been broken and just opened and closed periodically on its own. And when the wind was right, the smell would come up."

"But the tunnel Duo passed through via Treize's Tomb hadn't been used before and the one I found that took us out of the cave hadn't been utilized in a long time."

"And the tunnel we took out from his office to the stable was pretty darn dusty and in bad shape."

"I'll bet that there has been a new tunnel built and it opens into the mountain in a different spot entirely, but shares that passage revealed by the moving rock. No one but you, Duo, would have tried those other tight passages."

"So, we should be able to locate another way in, maybe."

Trowa looked up, startled. "De ol' barracuda himself, Dekim, tol' me of a cave once. I never saw it or knew w'ere it was, 'cause I ran off, but dat could be w'ere he hides bodies or uses as an armory--,"

"Or for hiding _tchotchkes_!" Duo suggested.

"Treasure?" Wufei spat. "_Guns_ I'll believe, and get that look out of your eyes, Maxwell. We are not going to go back and start a treasure hunt. No for all the diamonds in L4. Not today." He cast about for support and since no one was about to budge, including Duo, he turned and out the window.

"That's a myth, by the way," Quatre pointed out. "About the diamonds. Now, emeralds, that's something else. Oh, look, more snow."

Snow fell in large wet clumps, piling up on the ground.

"We aren't going anywhere today," Heero decided.

Quatre rose and checked the weather for himself. "I'll see that our rooms are still available."

"_Three_ rooms," Trowa said.

Wufei shot him a hard look. "Yes, three."

"Ah, shucks, Wu? I was thinking it was our turn to keep ya warm. Heh, ha, ha!" Duo laughed at Wufei's scandalized expression. "_Counting_ on it!"

"Duo?" Heero ground out.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up!" and that came from Heero, Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre all together. One thing they could unanimously agree upon. Once again, Duo brought them all together, united, a single front to face the next stage of their adventure.

"So, what about the scream? What was that?" Duo asked.

"I need to wash up," Quatre declared.

"Find the john…"

Duo could also drive them apart, but not for long.

"You," Heero growled in his ear, "are coming with me."

And the look in Heero's eyes told Duo the innuendo was completely intentional.

* * *

TBC

End, Chapter 25


	26. Chapter 26

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, shounen-ai, language, rated for eventual yaoi

* * *

Freezing air from the open window knifed his skin, but he didn't care. Treize was always up early, up at first light, when the world was waking. Cold as it was, rime on the panes, old snow still crusted at the roots of trees, stiff grass more like ice shards than pasture—still he loved it. Although he had to admit one of the reasons for this early hour was that he wouldn't have to see or talk to, or _be_ seen or talked _at_ by anyone.

Especially today. Treize Khushrenada was flabbergasted, and oh so angry.

"How had the evening gone so terribly wrong? It had started out so right, too. The lovely boys, the dinner, the lovely boys, the bath… with the roses… then there was that noisome Tsubarov with his non-existent machine. Teasing me with promises of a demonstration and then blaming the missing part on my other guests. And then skipping out like a thief in the night. He was Barton's idea. I knew never to trust one of those engineers with their far-fetched ideas. Take my money and run. Well, he took Barton's, too. Let _him_ chase Tsubarov down!"

"It had to Tsubarov. Even Winner couldn't have paid my staff enough to lie. His carriage was broken, just as he had said. Clearly, he and his pretty footman rode on to their business meeting on their horses. What became of Tsubarov's carriage and its load of crap? It had never even been there! My people attested to that! He and his marquis came by horseback. There never was any carriage or steam engine."

"And my lovely treasures, artifacts collected at great cost to the taxpayers, lost, broken, shattered! My dear, dear things… I accused him of instigating the entire fiasco to cover up for the fact that his engine was behind schedule. Why, the damn thing probably had no hope in hell of working! He'd been working me, sucking me dry for months… There I was pouring money down a dry well …"

Treize's mind wandered into a filthy gutter, imagining a different outcome to the night. Two lovely boys working him, sucking him, and filling two lovely wells with his powerful seed…

"That damned Tsubarov! He was the only one aware of both the engine and the party. Winner was there by accident and he's never involved with anything marginally illegal. Never get his pretty hands dirty, not that prissy bitch."

"And not my lovely boys. They were there by my invitation. And I had them bathing in rose water and that sweet one with the braid couldn't keep his eyes off me. So sweet…"

"But Tsubarov… the schemer, thinking he was so brilliant. Like he could outsmart the rest of us with his inventions! And he always had always been friendly with the guards. Obviously the two missing ones were in on it and took off. They'd better not think of returning!"

Khushrenada did wonder how the engineer had arranged the natives on horseback to come barging through his house, scaring off his lovely boys. He didn't think Tsubarov had or knew how to use connections like those. "The Marquis! He's slimy enough. The two were in collusion together on this."

He was glad to have thrown the engineer from his house. "I should have done it sooner, before the damn bastard had a chance to steal his plans. The nerve! Blaming me for losing them!"

He slammed his hands on the table again and again. Ruined treasures! Ruined night of passion! Ruined plans all over! Everything ruined! A paper fluttered up and settled back down. His fuzzy brain took in the movement and noted that his seal and signature was on the bottom.

"What's this?" As he read the document giving homosexuals equal rights under all Sanc Kingdom law, he remembered. He had a vision from the night before, and Quatre Winner's smug face hovered prominently. Treize had folded and he had folded hard. Why?

His memories came in slices and slivers like scattered puzzle pieces; his drug-induced coma had left his recollections fragmented. He rubbed his eyes cursing under his breath at having overindulged the night before. Too much liquor led to miserable hangovers. Would he never learn?

_"I have Lady Une herself recovering in a sanatorium." _

Winner had said that, but it was Tsubarov's guilty face he saw. It was Tsubarov who had let the cat out of the bag. He must have contacted Winner using Une's whereabouts to gain his confidence. Winner wasn't a game player, but Tsubarov was.

_"Missing wife, attempted murder illegal use of funds…bootlegging —" _

Winner wasn't interested in any of that. He was too proper and above reproach. He was aboveboard. Hadn't he just come right out and said what he wanted-- _hadn't he?_ He said he would dismiss it **all** for a ruling repealing the anti-homosexual laws.

And then… Zechs Merquise's name came to mind.

"Now there's another attractive man. What was his involvement in all this?" Treize could not recall, so it must not have been important.

_"Governor Khushrenada, I do want to make a deal. First, I want your signature approving this measure and your vow to see it pass the Duke's veto, if it should come to that. Second, I want you to denounce Dekim Barton and stop any agreements you have with him. Third, I want you to declare him an outlaw and have him and his followers brought to justice…"_

_"And you will drop all charges? All charges?"_

_ "Yes. Forgive and forget, I say." _

And there was the feather-tipped pen and there was his autograph on the document. Well, that wasn't so bad, just a little deal, just a little legislation, but dismissing Dekim Barton? Now that would be terribly complex. Winner might have to wait on that promise.

Just as his thoughts clarified around Winner, and how he hadn't always trusted the young man in some of their past dealings, his eyes settled on an envelope resting on the table. He liked fat envelopes, because they made him think of bribes.

"Yes, how decent of Lord Maxwell to remember." He counted out the fat wad of bills, Duo's donation to 'the cause.' _Very generous. _ "This could cover the replacement of many of my treasures. That nasty, blundering Tsubarov…"

There was a hastily written note, too, and from Winner: _"I'm supplementing Lord Maxwell's donation with a contribution of my own in the event that Duke Dermail needs further encouragement. As for our rather sudden departure, Mr. Chang and Lord Maxwell were afraid the worsening weather might snow us in, and begged me to apologize for leaving without saying thank you and good-bye. So, for my friends and myself, thank you for your gracious hospitality in spite of the awkward interruption." _Signed, Quatre Raberba Winner.

It all drew a smile from his lips. "What a thoughtful young man. And he introduced me to the exquisite braided boy. Sharing his paramour, if that was their relationship. Wasn't Winner engaged to some woman? Well, he was a little sneaky that way. A man after my heart, so to speak."

His stomach rumbled as he started to move. The sour taste in his mouth made him think of Tsubarov. "Before I do anything else, I should be to do away with that rubbish and his smarmy little marquis, too, and at once!"

Unfortunately, since both those men had disappeared in the early morning, it was too late for easy elimination of the guilty parties. Treize pulled from his pocket the crumpled note Tsubarov had left, blaming Winner for the theft of his demonstration engine and vowing to get it back "even if I must make a deal with the devil to do it!"

Treize read this and snorted. "Dekim Barton will kill you, you scoundrel." Treize shook his head again, and then wished he hadn't as his stomach surged forth.

(o)

Naked, they gave each other the once over like all men do when they see other men naked. They were both lean, muscular, close to average height, and, more importantly to them, their cocks were about the same size, both slightly aroused.

"I wish we were home," Duo confided to his best friend and lover.

"Me, too."

"This bed's okay and all, but what I could use is a long soak in our tub." He felt Heero adjust the bandage wrapped around his head. His body ached from strains and pulls from muscles he hadn't known he even had.

"I-I don't know where to touch you. Everything looks painful."

Duo smiled. "Not everything. Go lower. Lower. Ah, lower, 'Ro."

"You want sex? Now?"

"Make me forget."

Duo's breath hitched as Heero continued to examine him, fiddling with bindings and dabbing on more medication. "It was generous of Chang to share his liniment with us, again. Your legs are healing already."

Duo had taken the edge off with a smoke of one of Trowa's herbs. The effect so far was long lasting, but it hadn't blocked the worst of the back pain, covered the thrumming headache or, as he thought about it, taken away the general muscle pain.

"I don't' wanna think." He was feeling light-headed, all was well with the world, and… whoa… he was floaty and strong hands were working over his leg muscles. "God, that's nice."

"Just your lover doing his best to make you feel good."

"Doing real good, 'Ro."

"Roll over and I'll do your back."

Duo rolled over on his side when a hand stopped his progress. "Oh, love, your back is too scratched up for a massage."

Duo hesitated, loving the warm sound of Heero's voice calling him "love." "So…?"

The corners of Heero's mouth turned up ever so slightly. Duo thought his partner's mouth was lovely, and had its uses, which ought to be employed about now, but what he mostly thought about was his legs. Those sinfully strong legs draped over his shoulders, while he pounded his ass. Duo liked topping; with Heero's dominant personality it was a real turn-on. Nevertheless, that was not going to happen, not with his knees so torn up from the cave experience. But, he could sure use the stress release about now.

"Damn," he muttered in frustration.

"So, lay back and enjoy."

"Okay," Duo said, moving with Heero's gentle pushes.

The tickle of the messy hair on his thighs started him chuckling, but he barked out a "God, yes!" the moment Heero's tongue swiped his erection.

(o)

The other couple had also escaped to their room, their objective evident on their eager faces. Wufei had no intention on checking on _that_ pair, but Duo's injuries caused him some concern. Even though he had given Yuy some salve to treat the wounds, even though he had supervised the proper application, to a certain degree, and even though Duo's boyfriend certainly _meant_ well, Yuy, Wufei felt, was no medic.

"I had better check one last time to make certain Duo is resting comfortably. After all, he saved my honor and I owe him, at the very least, the fastest recovery possible."

He was halfway to Heero and Duo's door, when he heard a shout from within. "That's Maxwell in pain. The fool can bend steel but can he be gentle with an injured man?" This angered Wufei and he grumbled beneath his breath as he prepared to bash open the door and tackle Heero to the floor, if necessary. "Yuy!"

At the last moment, he heard breathy "'Ro…God…" moans through the solid wood door, which stayed his hand on the doorknob another fraction of a second. The moans that followed were all pleasure, causing the young man to blush with embarrassment and snatch his hand away as if it were burned.

"Dear Buddha, thank you for delaying my entry. I vow to live a life that is worthy. Please, keep me strong," he muttered in supplication, and then stalked off. "Well, Yuy can attend to him now."

He was the last one to bed.

Wufei was also the first one up with the muted dawn.

Another scattering of snow dusted the landscape. Wufei sipped tea and nibbled on a biscuit downstairs, wondering whether or not to rouse the others and, with the previous night's close encounter fresh on his mind, deciding to give them another hour. _Duo in particular would benefit from the extra rest. _

The sky was gray and the wind cutting-- he did not think the weather looked particularly appealing for starting out on a hard ride, so he returned to his warm, soothing beverage and mused more.

The plan was to ride home that day, possibly running into the wild woman, Ivy, and her native husband, if their getaway had been successful. The pair had done them a great service at the governor's with their destructive disturbance. Just the recollection of all the ruin, the shards of delicate glass skittering across the hardwood floor, brought a smile of satisfaction to his lips.

_Just compensation for the dishonor imposed upon Maxwell and himself._

His smile faded though. Retribution or not, there would be hell to pay for in the future, he was sure. Treize would blame them all. He would not let them get away with trashing his home and stealing his treasure. This would bring Barton's mercenaries out of whatever hellhole they hid in and after their hides. At least Winner's plans included ridding them of most of the evidence. But that would bring little comfort of mind once Barton put a bullet through their heads.

"We should leave, now," Wufei ground out between stress-clenched teeth.

_But Duo needs rest_, the little voice in his head argued. _He's a poor rider and in poor physical condition._

What was worse, there were sure to be icy roads which would create a long and treacherous descent into the valley. They would be like ducks on a lake—easy targets. _A few more hours and the ice might melt, making the ride safer, _he decided.

While the two couples kept to their own rooms, Wufei prowled the premises and asked the help if they had seen or heard about armed men nosing around. It was a good time to think. His instincts were excellent, he knew, and had been heightened by the excitement of the last few days, not numbed by the presence of a love interest. This made him the natural guard.

_Constant vigilance was required. _

"Someone must keep a level head in this outfit!" he snapped at no one in particular.

He left the warmth of the inn to nose around the stable. Drawing a deep breath of the frosty air brought a new smile to his face. He was accustomed to and at home with snow, and hadn't realized how much he had missed the crisp chill and the clean concealment snow brought.

L5 was in the far north and the snow-topped mountains were in perpetual winter. Alternatively, Sublimity was far enough south, and low enough in elevation, that snow was light and rare. Here in the Sanc mountains, a dusting came early in the season. It was nice.

He imagined Hilde wrapped in Chinese fox with midnight blue lining, a winter coat of his mother's he always had admired. She would like his mother.

"Now, why would I think such a thing?" he asked aloud. His parents wouldn't approve of such a forthright daughter-in-law, and Hilde wouldn't have understood his mother's position of servitude and repression in the household.

For hundreds of years in L5, women lived under the rules set by an unwritten doctrine that said women weren't equal to men, because women were unworthy or incapable of a literary education. The 'from birth till death' subservience of women to men was considered so natural that it wasn't really needed to write it down in the first place. Women were lowly and weak, second-class humans. Period.

Women were subject to their fathers and brothers. They had to obey them without question. After women got married conditions remained much the same, only instead of being subject to a father they were subject to their husbands absolutely and without question. A woman's main job was to produce sons, not pilot boats, fight pirates, run businesses. They couldn't even inherit property.

"I never wanted a woman to be my servant. I wanted…someone strong, someone confident, someone who cherished me-- Hilde." Then in a sudden leap of understanding, he blurted out, "Why would I _ever_ wish to return to L5?"

"Hey! You the one asking about Barton's men?"

Wufei halted mid step, reeling in his imagination. "Yes, what do you know?"

The stranger's eye wove between Wufei's pocket and the routes to flee to. Wufei withdrew an offering, and the man licked his lips.

"He's movin' this way-- in the flesh, checking every inn and wayside as he goes."

Wufei pressed a coin into the ragged man's hand. "Thank you."

"Dangerous to go against them."

"Yes, he is certainly _persona non grata, _so you should find cover. I can take care of myself."

Wufei watched the man blink and nod and then skitter into the safety of an alleyway before he, too, dashed back toward the inn where his friends slept. He halted at the stables, barked orders, and passed around more coins for the five horses to be saddled _post haste._

He wondered how many bribes his friend Winner had dropped to silence Treize's help and get them this far. He flung open the front doors of the inn and flew upstairs to warn his comrades.

"Winner! Yuy! He's on his way! Get up!"

Wufei had slept in his clothes. He hadn't even unpacked, making him the only one with time to ready the horses.

"Coming here?" came a muffled reply from Heero's room.

"Barton's gang!" he barked. "The only route into town brings them to the front door. I'll be in back with the horses in two minutes. I suggest you exit via the windows."

He waited only long enough to make sure all his comrades were up and moving, before he was a blur of action. Tossing his bag down the stairs left his hands free for balance as he slid the banister to the bottom. His feet barely touched the floor as he spun sharp left to the kitchen and out the servants' door to the stables.

(o)

In a flurry of activity and assorted curses, four naked young men dressed and packed. There was just enough time for Duo to shove the few important papers he had into Quatre's arms and push him toward Trowa. "Go! I'll buy you a couple minutes if he comes here. Go, now! 'Ro an' I'll catch up."

The windows shook from the weight of a heavy door crashing open.

"But…!" Quatre wanted to argue, but raised voices and heavy feet from the floor below meant Barton was here already.

"Move!" Heero shoved him harder, leaving Duo to saunter down the stairs. "I need to find my ammunition."

Duo wasn't waiting for Heero, who would stop him anyway; he struck out on his own agenda to buy them some escape time. At the landing on the staircase, he got his first glimpse of the mercenary. He had never seen Dekim Barton, but the good-looking, middle-aged brute with the wavy brown hair and day-old beard oozed the confidence only a boss man could. And when the man turned his hard gaze on him, he felt his skin crawl. His intensity radiated danger.

Duo drew a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm his nerves. _Well, look what I got myself into this time. Outta one squeeze and into another._

He skipped down the stairs, humming a tune he remembered from the circus, and when he was certain he had the mercenary-leader's attention, he posed, looking brassy and a little put out.

"God, wouldn't you know _you'd_ be lurking about," Duo said loudly, letting them all know how close Barton was already.

"What do you mean by that?" Barton asked.

"You and the gov', close as stink on shit."

"Who the hell are you?"

Duo gestured grandly. "Lord Maxwell of L2, at your service.

"L2? You must mean 'at my disposal' like the garbage you all are."

Duo didn't take to insults well. He jumped and lit into the taller, heavier, far-better-armed man with little thought as to his own safety, or injuries. He got in a few good punches, too, before one of Dekim's men tore him off his boss, dragged him a few feet, shoved him against a wall, and pressed a knife to his throat.

"No, don't kill him, not yet," Barton growled. "I'm thinking this joker with the braid knows something about steam engine plans, maybe thinking he can put one on a boat. Build a better river transport."

The man holding him lifted the knife and Duo used the opportunity to jerk free and leap onto the stairs using the extra height to some advantage. "Steam engine?" Duo chortled through a lighting bolt of pain from his leg all the way up his spine. "Moving boats through the water with hot air? That's too stupid to even _be_ a sentence."

Barton pulled his revolver and stepped forward, backing Duo up the stairs.

(o)

Quatre heard Duo's voice rising above the others, knowing it was full of false bravado. He wouldn't waste any more time given him by his friend's brave act. He jammed half the remaining plans Duo had given him under his shirt and carried the other half to the open window, binding them in a silk shirt as he scuttled along. He was just in time to see Trowa, a few feet below the windowsill, balancing upon a clothesline tied between two trees.

"Ready to catch if I throw these to you?"

"_Mais oui! I'll catch anyt'ing you t'ow at me, including yourself."_

"Aren't you impertinent this morning?" Quatre laughed and tossed the paper roll out the window, directing it at his cheeky lover. "Brrr…"

Trowa snagged the bundle out of the air (like a future professional football player would snare a pass.) "I'll be back fo' you, love," Trowa promised.

Quatre watched, biting his tongue so not to cry out with worry, as his lithe friend tiptoed twenty feet along the line, executed a perfect "10" dismount at the end, and then darted across the courtyard to where he could see Wufei arriving with all their horses.

"Hurry," Quatre whispered prayer-like.

He could hear Duo's voice again, getting closer. It sounded like he was at the top of the stairs.

"Keep your hands off me unless you're paying for the privilege!" Duo snapped.

"You won't mind if we search your rooms?" came Barton's snarling reply.

"'Course I would! None of it's your business."

Next thing Quatre knew, Heero was racing into the room with the few belongings he had gathered and pitched them out the window. "You're next. Go!"

Quatre balanced on the sill, sitting with his legs dangling until Trowa returned to the clothesline and reached up. "C'mon, mon ami, I'll get you down. Take my hands."

Quatre looked down. From his standpoint, it was a long way to the ground. A long way to fall. He would probably die or break many, many bones. Now, for the spoiled rich boy to follow instructions like that took a huge leap of faith, but seeing as it was the man he'd come to love and trust with his life, he clasped those sure and steady tanned hands and left his perch. He was on a rope, then in a pair of sinewy arms.

"Hold on. Wrap your legs 'round me. Close and snug!"

No, he wasn't going to have to do the tight rope alone, Trowa was carrying him across it. _How did he keep his balance?_

"Grab onto dis trellis and climb down. You can do dat, _non_?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine."

And he was, Quatre was pleased to find. He found his footing and tricky handholds, jumping the last few feet to the ground. He ran the distance to the horses, joining Wufei and mounting upon his horse seconds before Trowa reached his steed. The acrobat leapt atop his horse, carrying the belongings Heero had pitched out the window.

When Quatre looked back, he could see Heero silhouetted against the window. He counted him knock out three men. "We should go back and help them!"

"Wait," Trowa said, his eyes pleading. "Give them another minute."

Then Duo appeared, distinguished by the long swinging braid. Quatre guessed one of them must have tied a last bit of rope to something, because next he observed Duo slithering down the rope to the ground.

"Where's Heero? Oh, Heero! Hurry! Don't try and kill him alone!" Quatre prayed again.

But he hadn't seen Heero since Duo started down the rope. Suddenly, it was Dekim Barton he saw near the window.

"Oh no!"

Where was Heero? And Duo, he had just melted away.

Wufei grunted something and nudged his horse forward, pulling Duo and Heero's rides along.

"You can't leave them!" Quatre cried out.

"He's not. Look, over dere."

Quatre looked where Trowa pointed to the corner of the building; two figures, one limping, appeared. Wufei rode to meet them.

"He musta left out de side window."

"He's hurt!"

It took Wufei and Duo both struggling to get Heero onto his horse and Wufei to help Duo onto his.

"Let's ride," Trowa said.

Quatre urged his mount ahead, drawing alongside Heero just as shots rang out overhead. Heero was in obvious pain and having difficulty holding the reins. "I've got your horse, Heero. You just hold onto the mane. We have to go fast."

One curt nod and Heero dropped the reins and gripped the pommel with one hand and the mane with the other.

Wufei led, pounding a path across the wide courtyard, looking side-to-side searching for the safest route to the back road out onto the main road. Behind them rode Trowa alongside Duo.

Bullets pinged off rocks all behind them. Once, Quatre felt the wind of one flying by his head, and then they were out of range; that is, until the gang caught up to them!

Wufei and Quatre and placed their escape route well, though, and they raced along a little-used path at a good clip. Barton's gang would take the main road, a better surface for speed. Quatre hoped their high-breed, well-rested steeds would out distance the worn mercenaries horses and buy them extra time.

And for awhile, it did.

Five grueling, heart-stopping minutes later, Quatre heard faraway shots and the thunder of hooves beating the frosty ground. _How could they fend off their pursuers, _he wondered?

Wufei had his sword at his side, but that wouldn't help at far range. He heard Heero grunt and looked over as Heero twisted around and took aim. _He was an excellent shot, but what was one man against so many others? _

The hunters were not yet in sight. Heero turned back and grasped the pommel with his free hand. Sweat poured off his brow in spite of the cold, and Quatre worried about his injury. _It had to be his leg._

Then Wufei let out a shout, wheeling around his horse, and tearing off into what Quatre thought was a clump of trees. He and Heero followed the abrupt change in direction. From Heero's slumped back and grey complexion, Quatre knew he was in bad shape, and getting worse. He was at a loss for a plan and hoped his friend was leading them to a hiding place.

Seeing Ivy and Great Eagle astride their circus horses made his heart leap. His lover and Duo joined the small cluster of friends on horseback partially screened by the clump of trees, questions on the tip of everyone's tongue.

Ivy spoke in hushed tones. "Heard Barton's gang was closing in and we came to see if you could use some help."

"No shit! "You are outstanding people after my own heart, but Heero's hurt!" Duo cried out. "We can't outrun Barton."

"I-I agree. Heero can't ride much further," Quatre pointed out, although Heero was grunting his difference of opinion. "We'll have to make a last stand here, unless you have a more defensible spot in mind?"

"Better than that!" the big native said.

"Lots better, in fact!" Ivy smiled. "Catherine's got a circus caravan you can ride in. We'll disguise the horses with some foo-fa."

A horse-drawn wagon covered with a brightly painted, wooden structure, akin to a house on wheels, situated so that is was half-hidden a few yards deeper in the trees. The wagon rocked slightly, and then the door at the back flew open with a crash, sending the mustard-colored, wooden shutters to clattering.

Catherine waved to the gathering and stood back as Great Eagle carried a pissed-off Heero to the caravan. Once stretched out, Heero was covered with blankets. After the native exited, Duo hopped in followed by Wufei and Quatre.

Trowa remained outside a little longer, and Quatre watched him assist Ivy and Great Eagle as they attached plumed hats to the horses' heads and ribbons, bells and other circus paraphernalia over their shoulders. It took only a minute to complete the disguises, and then Trowa ducked inside the caravan.

While Duo fussed over Heero, the caravan started rolling.

"There's costumes in the trunks. Trowa, show them where," Catherine said.

"You do dat. Yuy's doin' somet'ing stupid."

"You can't set your own leg!" Duo whined. "We'll get you to a doc and let him… Ah, Jeez…holy shit! 'Ro…that's…ugh…"

Wufei dug through his medicine bag looking for drugs, possibly, Quatre shrieked, and Trowa took a swing and punched Heero hard, knocking him out.

"Trowa!"

"It was de fastest way to get him to stop."

Everyone was talking at once until Catherine's shrill voice carried over the top. "Shut up! Get into costumes now!"

Quatre helped with the costuming, while Duo and Trowa continued to grumble and hiss at one another.

"Getcher hands off him. If 'Ro's gonna look like a sick clown, it's gonna me that makes him look like that."

"Even if I'm the better make-up artist?"

"Even if you claimed to be the Almighty himself!"

"Shut up!" Catherine shouted again. "I'll do it. You boys settle down and mind yourselves like you other two gentlemanly friends.

The caravan tossed them side to side as it hit some rough road.

"Who's steering this thing?" Duo asked.

"Great Eagle and Ivy is up front, too, I expect." Catherine met Trowa's eyes. "If we get stopped--"

"You mean _when," _Duo stuck in.

Her eyes remained on Trowa. "I want you and me at the door." She turned and looked directly at Quatre. "You, and the others keep a low profile. Even in those outfits he might guess who you are."

Quatre didn't see many possibilities in the tight space. "Should we hide in the other beds?"

"Beds" was stretching what were more like narrow, hard, wooden benches that ran the length of the caravan. Above them, attached to the wagon sides, were shelves loaded with blankets and boxes.

"That would be fine."

"Whoa!" Duo gasped as he looked inside another trunk. "I didn't expect to find a pretty girl like you with an army load of ammo and guns hidden onboard."

"If you need weapons, go ahead." They did, examining the assemblage of guns and rifles and loading their choices.

"Heero is asleep," Wufei pronounced. "I recommend Duo lie down with him and rest. You have a back injury that will worsen with the abuse you are inflicting upon yourself."

"You can protect Heero better that way, too," Quatre put in helpfully.

"'Kay." Duo let out a great sigh. "Nothing better to do anyway."

Quatre eyes soften as he watched Wufei and Duo converse, his affection for his friends bursting out into a wide grin. He was proud of how compassionate and sensitive the once arrogant man had become.

"Stop that," Wufei grumbled and stared down Quatre, "and help me prepare places to conceal ourselves."

"As you wish." Quatre chuckled, but didn't push his friend further. Now was not the time.

After a little rearranging, they passed the time in silence. Bumping over the uneven road caused the riders to jostle uncomfortably into one another's shoulders and legs, but no one complained. No one even spoke; they waited.

"Hear dat?" Trowa tensed. "Dat's no owl 'round here."

"You're right. It's Great Eagle's warning to us. Take cover!" Catherine squeezed around Wufei and Quatre so that she and Trowa formed a barrier at the doorway.

* * *

End chapter 26


	27. Chapter 27

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, shounen-ai, language, rated for eventual yaoi

Note: Sorry for the delay. My computer's 'mother board' (don't ask, I don't know) had a meltdown and died a month past the warranty (touché for not buying it any fancy attachments and flattering in more, I suppose) and money being as it is (in short supply) means a replacement has not yet materialized and writing is slower than a check in the mail. Still, here you go. Hope you enjoy... hope you remember the story, heh, heh!  -- KS

* * *

Catherine heard the owl-like warning call the same instant Trowa recognized it.

"Hear dat?" Trowa tensed. "Dat's no owl 'round here."

"You're right. It's Great Eagle's warning to us. Take cover!" Catherine squeezed around Wufei and Quatre so that she could push Trowa to the back. The boys formed a barrier at the doorway.

"You especially, Trowa! That nasty Dekim character isn't likely to forget your face or Lily's no matter how much makeup you're wearing."

Just at that moment Lily threw open the door, eyes wide with fright. "I can't let him see me!"

Quatre grabbed Trowa by the arm. "Dekim Barton won't recognize me as the Winner heir." He reached over to Duo and yanked on his braid.

"Hey!"

"Get out and let down your hair." Quatre ripped the tie off the end of the braid. "Trowa, climb into that bed with your new girlfriend and hide!"

"_Girl _friend!" Duo snorted.

Quatre raked the amazingly long hair with his fingers. "For now, yes."

Trowa pulled the shorter man into his arms and moved into the wall. "Damn, it's nice not to be de one in drag dis time."

Quatre had torn the black wig off his head and jammed it over Lily's. "You are Heero's beloved. He's…asleep. Watch out for the broken leg. If he starts to wake up, kiss him!"

Duo opened his mouth to object, but slammed it shut when he caught Trowa's evil smile. "Same goes fo' you, if you mou'd off."

"Mow'ed off? What the hell does that translate to?"

"He means if you go on about anything, he will silence you," Quatre said.

"Heero will murder her it he awakens," Wufei noted. "I'll take care of him," he said quickly to Lily.

"Whatever you're doing, do it fast," Quatre warned.

His usually well-groomed hair was wild now and with the glittering costume with feather trim, Catherine thought he looked more effeminate than ever. The fire in his eyes was that of a man, though, despite the flashy makeup.

Catherine watched Wufei place a bit of leaf under Heero's tongue, then slip to the near corner of the caravan, where she had seen him stockpiling arms, and hunker down to wait. She made a mental note to ask him for some of that 'sleeping herb' for her own use later.

Quatre took up a position in the opposite corner. Wufei barked a "head's up!" and tossed him a rifle; he already had a pistol stuffed in his belt. Catherine shushed them all as the sound of several horses closed in and covered the sound of the last minute scrambling inside the caravan. She could feel the blood drain from her face and she steeled herself for battle. The door was closed, barred, but it wouldn't hold up to a well-placed shoulder backed with determination.

"Ho, there!" It was Great Eagle bravely greeting the unwelcome visitors.

Dekim Barton barked out his orders to his men. The man insisted upon looking inside the caravan. Catherine heard what he said and fingered the firearm hidden away in her apron pocket, ready to defend her newly found brother and friends.

To her surprise, the one she knew was her brother's lover, an heir to a large amount of wealth and businesses, and whom she thought was rather mild-mannered and even meek, stepped out of his corner and threw open the door.

Obstructing the opening with his lithe body dressed in the silly costume, Quatre snarled, "What is the hold up? We're the sick wagon and have performers to take care of!"

"The what?" asked the leader of the thugs who had dismounted and approached the caravan first.

Dekim rested on foot on the step up to the caravan. Catherine squinted past him to count the number of opponents they were up against. She could make out several other tough guys on horseback ranging behind him. On their feet, leaning against tree trunks or lurking in the shadows were a few more savage-looking types. They all smoked and the result combined with the steam off the horses forming a scrim between them and the caravan.

Catherine was glad to had Quatre at her side, because despite the nasty looking men, the golden boy was unflappable. A couple of the lurkers joined up with their leader, following him right up to the caravan.

"Sick wa-gon," Quatre articulated carefully, like you would to a mentally slow person. "The seriously ill and injured performers get farmed out for medical care. We pick them up and take them back to the winter staging area."

"You look okay."

Catherine nearly laughed at the young man's eye roll and put-out expression.

"I'm the _accountant _when I'm not clowning around. It's my job to see the final payments are met."

The older man grunted "payments" and pushed Quatre into the side of the door, stopping nearly nose to nose with him.

Quatre kept his feet and composure and didn't fall back. "Oh, don't look at me like that! I have no money here. Doctors have cleaned us out."

Catherine broke in. "That one's got a broken leg." She lifted the blanket off Heero's leg, exposing the terrible-looking thing. Two men blanched and stepped away. "It healed badly and had to be re-set. We were about to splint it when he passed out."

Wufei raised a handful of bandages and a pair of wooden splints from a case Catherine assumed was his medicinal bag, although she thought he was a teacher, a lawyer, and not a medic as well.

"You gotta Chinc medic? We're looking for a _Chinaman_," he ground out the word through gritted teeth as if intact he might choke on it, "and a host of other good-for-nothing thieves."

Barton elbowed his way around the crowded caravan and looked around. Catherine bit her lip to stop from saying something damaging. She held her breath when the criminal's hand grabbed at Duo's tresses and tugged, but the young man stayed hidden and only mewled sorrowfully.

"Humph." Barton gave the tangle of hair one more tug then nosed around a little more.

She noticed Wufei's arm gravitating backwards, putting the hilt of his sword within easy reach, and Quatre edging back into his corner where his rifle lay hidden. The tension was about to break these young men, she was sure, and if she didn't do something fast there would be bloodshed soon. When Heero groaned in his restless sleep, she took advantage of the opportunity.

"We really need to get his leg set and plastered before he wakes up. Have you seen enough? Space is tight. What you see is what there is. We haven't space here for harboring the likes of thieves."

Wufei's eyes darted to her face. Quatre's breath hitched.

"We oughtta be moving before the weather locks us in," Great Eagle commented from outside.

Barton straightened up with another grunt and stomped out of the caravan. "Injun? You saying another storm's on the way?"

"Yeah?"

The head honcho looked over his men and horses with their sides still heaving from the chase. "Which way you come from?"

Catherine answered truthfully, "Down from Elkhorn and through Drain. Road was okay, but you know it will be a mud trough with more rain. A-and we didn't run into any thieves, if you were wondering."

"And you're going south?" he asked Great Eagle.

"Yeah." The tall native drew himself up to about the size of a mountain next to Barton. He had not bothered with a disguise. In order to be effectively disguised, Great Eagle would have to put on, at minimum, a studio apartment. "Had nuffa this winter up here."

Barton narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance. For a moment, Catherine thought the thug was going to agree and accompany them!

And then, just as it seemed all was well and they would leave, one of the thugs started looking over the horses tied to the caravan. Would the circus harness and fussy trappings fool them into thinking these were trick horses?

"Hey, boss! How about we collect some fine horseflesh? This one's better'n mine."

It was Wufei's beautiful steed. Catherine didn't know if the young man would fight to keep it or not, but no horse was worth the lives of so many, and a fight would cost them plenty.

Instead, Dekim Barton shouted at the man, "Getcher hands off that. We gottanuff trouble with the circus folks. Lost five men in that 'Big Top' fracas. Remember Sogran. Don't need horse thievery to stir them up." He turned to his other minions and ordered them "git goin'" and to "use the east route." Not a word of goodbye or "sorry to have bothered you."

"Ass," Catherine hissed beneath her breath and climbed back inside the caravan. "Looks like they're leaving. Go ahead and set the leg. We'll give them a few minutes, then go."

Trowa hopped down to Heero and with Wufei's assistance, splinted the leg straight.

"You did admirably," Wufei told her.

"Thanks. I don't often get complements. I-I wasn't sure if he'd go. I rub people the wrong way sometimes. Don't argue with me!"

"I have no intention of arguing with you, or any other woman. I'm not an idiot."

"An' see," Trowa said with an ever-widening smile. "You are rubbing him de wrong way."

Catherine wiggled her finger in his face. "Ungrateful… You should be thanking me."

Just then, her brother's pretty blonde boyfriend popped up, saying, "You are right, Miss Catherine. Consider this a token of our appreciation, _all_ our combined appreciation, for your help and all the risks you've taken."

She hesitated, but took the offered box. It was handsome, black lacquered, with a curly scripted "TEK" inscribed and gold-leaved on the lid. "Um, what's this TFK?"

"Treize Francis Khushrenada." Quatre's smile oozed charm. "A… donation? Ah… to the circus?"

She thought it was a nice try. Obviously this was intended for either the governor's wife or mistress. "So, you really are thieves? Hmmm," she said noncommittally. She lifted the lid to reveal a weighty gold chain studded with gold roses with what had to be ruby centers. "Well, there's nothing that can't be smoothed over with a little jewelry."

(o)

Heero knew he'd awoken once or twice before. He remembered being lulled back to sleep by Duo's reassuring voice. The snow of the upper altitudes turned to gentle rain which along with the rocking action of the wagon further seduced him to sleep. He had a funny taste in his mouth when he woke up at last and muttered something close to "water."

"Tell'em Sleeping Beauty's awake," a gruff, clearly male voice called out.

Heero challenged himself to stay alert. He forced his back to lift and stomach muscles to pull as he hefted himself up onto one elbow. What had happened to him, he wondered?

He could make out Duo's voice, his footfalls pounding not far off. "I _told_ you the moment I left him, he'd wake up."

"You needed the bath, believe me."

The second voice was a woman's, but who? Heero thought it was familiar. He hadn't long to wonder, though. Duo was just entering the room where Heero was currently ensconced on a cot, followed closely by a young woman he immediately recognized as the doctor's assistant from Sublimity, Sally Po.

"You saying I smelled?"

Heero smiled. He could hear the indignity in Duo's voice and imagined his expressive eyes darkening. And then he appeared right in front of him, braid leaving a wet spot down his back. "Duo?"

"'Ro! Careful with that leg. Stay put. I'll come to you. Aw, no, don't try and stand. Don't you ever listen to a thing I say? Yeah, well, don't pull that face. I told you to sit. Now you're sitting, so stay. Jeez, Ruggles listens better. Remember him? Yeah, Todd brought him over a-and took him back. We'll be back home in no time and you can see them all. Um, Ruggles is a dad. There's a whole mess of puppies that look just like him, except one that's black like the mother. And—"

Heero interrupted. He had to or he'd never get a word in edgewise, endwise or otherwise. "Where are we?"

"Zechs Merquise's river place. Filled with soldiers right now so it's safe for us. Quatre and Trowa are here, too. Wufei went home to see what kind of trouble the school is in."

"Hilde. You mean the trouble she's gotten him into, you mean." Sally smiled. "Hello, Heero Yuy. We've met, but it's been a long time. I'm Sally Po."

"Yes, I remember you. But why--?"

"I'm here because Wufei sent me to make sure the leg was properly set. It was a good thing because you were developing a fever. You are doing well now, but you'll have to stay off it for several more days. You broke many blood vessels with that bone, and the delay in setting it made it worse. Rest is what you need."

"How long?"

"We've been here about three days," Duo answered. "Missed you."

Three days. Lost and he would never get them back. "I have a business to take care of. I've been gone too long already."

"No river work for you," Sally told him. "The plaster must stay dry and won't come off for nine weeks."

An argument ensued. Heero would lose this one.

"Trowa and I will handle the route," Duo assured him. "It will release him from our debt, or so he says. It's important to him, 'Ro. Let him do this."

"What about Dekim Barton's men? What about the threats to Trowa he represents?"

"We'll work that out as we go. He's got circus connections, guys outta work for the season that can help out. Let him do this, Heero, let us."

Heero really had no choice. He'd have to wait to heal, but damn if he would take nine weeks to heal!

One evening, he sat with Duo, Quatre and Trowa on a dock after the soldiers went inside. Quatre had come with a carriage to take the others home, but easily been convinced to stay over the night. They all enjoyed the quiet night relaxing together knowing how few they'd see in the future. The crisp, dry leaves shuddered in the chill breeze overhead, a few breaking free and fluttering down. One leaf caught in the updraft from the fire pit swirled aloft before the edges lit, glowed, then burned to a crisp before finishing its journey to the ground. A log spat out a spray of bright sparks.

Quatre lifted his glass and Trowa filled it with wine brought from the Watergardens. Duo was on his second and Heero was sipping cautiously at his first, feeling moody enough without being drunk to add to his problems.

"So, who has the demonstration steam engine now?" Heero asked. "You said you had news."

"Yes. The Maguanacs Command have reported back and they made their delivery."

"To--?"

Quatre's eyes slid to Duo. "You didn't tell him? Oh, no matter. Howard, of the Sweepers? He's looking it over and sorting out the plans."

"Howard? That crazy old c-coot?" Heero said, choking.

"He's a fine engineer, and more importantly, completely trustworthy. He'll let us know in a few weeks if he can get it running and fit it to a ship and if more can be produced."

Heero shrugged, giving up. Duo was satisfied with Winner's choice, so he was, too. So what if he was contributing to the end of the way he made a living? By the time he could return to river work, would steam engines be replacing strong backs? And why stop with the river traffic? If an engine could replace a man on a boat, couldn't one replace horses pulling wagons? Not unless roads were improved. So, they'd build better roads, more roads, roads on land to replace waterways. On that glum note, Heero sipped more of the excellent wine.

He thought back to the trip he and Duo had made while searching for Lily, then Middie. It seemed a lifetime ago now. At the time he hated to give up a week, but now, looking back, it had been a wonderful experience having Duo to himself and traveling to new rivers. He remembered listening to Howard, whom Winner had trusted even back then with his secrets. _"Your friend, Mr. Winner,"_ Howard had said, _"he's got it all taken account of. Some of my boys are up the way at the Tallgeese River Post packing supplies for you. That Winner's building something secret in there. Something big up that way."_

So that was where the steamboat engine was hidden and being studied.

"This is nice."

Heero shoved at the coals with a long stick, lighting up the twilight with an explosion of sparks. "With you, everything is nice."

"Well, it is…nice. All…" Quatre gestured expansively toward the water, seated and sprawled out friends and the universe at large, "this _is_ nice. Your injury is unfortunate but not shattering the general niceness of all… this."

"You've spilt your wine. Let me address dat shortcoming."

"Give him anymore and he'll start singing." When Duo nudged his grouchy boyfriend, Heero sighed. "Sure, loosen him up. What do I care? It's the crickets that will suffer and the frogs."

"Let's go for a swim!"

Trowa chuckled, but let Quatre talk him into stripping to shorts and diving off the dock. Duo passed. He'd had enough river baths to last him awhile.

"Ahhhhh!" Quatre screeched. "It's cold! Tro-wa! Oh! My balls fell off!"

Heero smiled. "Poor little rich boy."

Duo smiled with him. "Yeah. Guess he never figured that since the Rogue flows from North to South that that would mean it would bring the cold water from the north this way. Yeah, I hate the snow. Glad to be at the lower altitude. Maybe we go south some winter, eh?"

Heero shrugged. "Maybe." His spirits were determined to remain _un_lifted. The broken leg had stopped him like a bullet to the arm once as a boy had not. "If I'd been awake, maybe I'd been able to identify more of Barton's men as ones who had once worked for Odin Lowe."

"Maybe, but then they didn't get a chance to recognize you either. That wouldn't have been good. We were way outnumbered, amigo."

Quatre and Trowa were already out of the water and running, giggling and dancing around the fire to dry like a couple of twelve-year-olds. Duo kicked out a foot and tripped Trowa once, though the agile Cajun caught his fall and for revenge shook his wet hair over Duo, pelting him with stinging drips. Quatre nearly fell into the fire, had Heero not grabbed his wet shorts and pulled hard.

"Oooh, not here!" Quatre cried out, then laughed as he fell on his ass.

"Put on some clothes," Heero growled.

Trowa leaned into Duo and whispered something in his ear. Heero looked away. If they wanted to keep secrets, let them. As much as he wanted to bury his bad feelings, mostly about his inability to return to river work, there were the others, his friends, stirring them up. Duo, his handsome, upbeat partner would save him, he trusted, but until he did, Heero relished putrefying away in his own bad mood.

He was not left moldering for long. Duo dragged him to his feet and Trowa latched on to his other side. "Hey!"

"Don't wiggle and hang on to our shoulders," Duo told him as he and Trowa linked hands under Heero's knees and swept him off his feet.

"You assholes!"

"They're carrying you inside. We'll all camp out here tonight and then I'll take you home in the morning. The mor-ning, the morn-ning… I'll take you hooooo-ome… in the mor-ning!"

Heero groaned in mock pain and rested his head on Duo as much as possible. "Oh, Hell. Winner's singing; hurry, get me inside!"

"Got our bed all ready, love."

Heero hoped to God that Duo planned to cheer him up, in bed, undressed, no singing involved.

(o)

Wufei couldn't wait to get home to Sublimity and Hilde. He had to see to his horse's shelter and food first, of course, but then it was a quick walk to his rented room above the school. He imagined Hilde's pleasure at his arrival. It sent a thrill to his body that sped him along. He had sent word ahead to expect him and wondered if she would have supper waiting, a hot bath, tea?

He also worried. He worried about the school and how late a start it would have this year. He hadn't prepared a thing and yet he knew it would be expected of him to begin classes the very next day.

How he wished he could have a single day just for himself and Hilde, and blushed at where his thoughts turned. Well, it was natural to want his wife. Unlike his homosexual comrades, he had had no partner as a handy outlet for his passions. He needed his woman, his wife, and he was certain she would have missed him sorely as well. It would be a wonderful homecoming, indeed.

What he didn't expect was to hear the sound of pounding, the pounding of nails into wood, to be precise, coming from his home. He opened the front door and it was louder.

"Hello? Hel-lo!"

Pound. Pound. Pound.

Concerned for Hilde's welfare, Wufei took the stairs two at a time, closing in on the sound. Just one more step and then turn right and…

"Hilde! What are you doing? W-what has happened here?"

"Darling!" Hilde dropped her hammer and flew to her husband's arms. "Ah'm so happy you're home. Ah missed you so!"

And for a few minutes he lost himself in her arms, soaking up her warmth, treasuring her love as it filled his senses. As he leaned in for a richly deserved kiss, his eyes betrayed his desires and scanned the room beyond.

"Dear Buddha what have you done?!"

Hilda broke apart to point out her improvements to their humble abode. "I'm almost done in here. I have only a little more trim work to complete, which I was doing when you arrived."

"This room… wasn't here before."

"Not really, was it? I rented the additional rooms on the floor and knocked out a wall or two…"

"Knocked out--? You knocked out walls?"

"Nothing compared to knocking pirate heads together," she said with a grin. No shrinking violet, his little Hilde. "Now you enter into the parlor and our bedroom is through that passage, a private space, there's the bathroom, the kitchen… Come see how big it is now!"

He agreed. It was large. Huge. With a wood-fired oven for bread making, she told him. "Where does this go?" he almost hated to ask about the narrow stairs he'd never seen before.

"That's the best part. Now, honey, smile. That's the way. You are so handsome when you smile. It's all going to be just fine, you'll see. Now, you juss come with me and see your new office."

"Office?" His voice wavered. Why did he need an office?

"I pointed out to the city council, they are our landlords, you know." He knew. "That the attic space was being wasted and that I was taking it. They had no objections so with a little insulation and paint, oh, and flooring, voila! Now, you can have your law office here when you are in town, and once we get back to Serendipity, you can have your bigger, official one there as well."

"Law? Teaching and lawyer. I'll have two jobs? Hilde, I don't think—"

"Oh, lord, no. I've taken over the teaching part juss fine. Why, I juss love those little chillins. And they love my pirate stories, you know."

"You opened the school. You?"

"well, who else? They all showed up one day. You weren't here and I needed to find someway to keep my mind going, seeing as how I'm not out scrapping with the pirates anymore. You don't want me to do that… do you?"

He most certainly did not want his wife out "scrapping" with anyone. "But I was hired as the teacher." He tried like crazy to keep that obnoxious whine out of his voice.

"Oh, I _know. _That's what took me over to the city council to explain and they were very pleased to meet me. I'm having tea with the wives every Saturday morning and you can go shooting with the gents, if you want. I told them you have a standing meeting at the Watergardens, which I must say impressed them appreciably. So my qualifications satisfied them for the teaching position, when you are indisposed, and then we moved on to the lodgings. They were most accommodating, having no one else leasing the property."

"But the expenses! I can't possibly—"

"You are so right, dearest. And that's what I impressed upon them. You are far too important to live so humbly and once they understood that as a married couple we would need a proper home, well…"

"Well, what?"

"Your raise covers this." She was glowing. "All this is ours, quite affordable, and based solely on your worth. I juss couldn't be prouder of you, honey."

And, after all, it was his due. What could he say? "So show me what you've done to my… ah… our bedroom."

"Oh, you will juss LOVE it, I know you will honey. Look at this."

He looked about the room, larger than his entire bachelor pad had been previously, the place he'd left a week ago, and found himself staring at a palatial-sized four-poster monstrosity front and center. He could barely squeak out a word. "Where's the futon?"

"The little mat on the floor? In the guest room."

"We have a guest room, too?"

"For the time being, but soon it will be the nursery. Are you all right dear?"

And that's when Wufei chose to collapse. Hilde marveled at how delicate his sensibilities were, and caught him before his head hit the floor. "Let's get you to bed, sweetie-pie."

(o)

Sublimity still clung to autumn. There were still apples and a pear or two on the trees to pick, and pumpkins, parsnips, and potatoes to harvest. Heero had plenty of work to do, to keep busy while his lover and friends did his job, worked his river, delivered his merchandise. He missed the feel of the pole. He longed for the stretch of his shoulders. During the day he pined for his river and the feel of the wind in his hair.

He often hobbled to the dock to watch the water rush by and wait for Duo's homecoming. Ruggles learned to keep his distance and not trip his master, and his master learned how fun it was to toss his dog a stick, and do it over and over again for no better reason than it made them both happy. There he enjoyed the blinding reflection of sunlight off the water, the rare birds stopping by while in transit south, the mix of hanging grey moss with burnished yellow tree leaves overhanging the river's edge.

Sometimes Quatre would come and wait with him for the flatboat to return home bringing with it both their lovers. One evening, he showed up with a bottle of wine, bread and cheese. He had news to share with everyone. Wufei arrived with Hilde and they all celebrated on the dock.

"My good news is this: Howard has that prototype steam engine running. He understands the plans and with his Sweepers mechanics and shipmen has agreed to build a ship. A steamship!"

"He's moved into the production site that the Winner Corporation built earlier."

"Duo and I saw the place. About a mile south of Serendipity and up Tallgeese River to the post. You'd told us at the time what you were thinking of using it for, but it didn't seem possible, until now."

"That was one fancy house, Quat, and a buncha huge out-buildings."

Quatre smiled indulgently at Duo. "Yes, it is lovely there. Zechs is setting up an encampment complete with soldiers nearby, much like the one we stayed at a few weeks ago. That will offer protection and cover for all the food and supplies moving into the site."

"I'm sure Zechs-dear has got that all covered, honey. What I want to know," Hilde asked, "is what's its name? The _boat,_" she clarified when she was met by a blank expression.

"The ship will be called the Peacemillion."

Heero's frown affixed itself to his forehead. "Who named a ship that?"

Quatre shrugged. "I believe Miss Relena did."

"Relena?" Duo shouted so suddenly that he started to hiccup. "Wha-at gives h-her the right?"

"Actually, Howard asked for a name and Zechs offered it up. Apparently his dear sister wanted to name their compound that and he got around it by promising to name his next ship that and…well… It's not so bad, is it?"

Despair taking a motion against those sorrowful blue eyes! No one could nay-say Quatre the ship name and they fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"So, we have big news too, don't we honey?" Hilde smiled in the direction of her husband, but didn't give him the oppportunity to break it himself. "We're having a baby."

"No shit!" Duo bounced off the dock and into her arms. "Congrats! Wow, I mean…a real little person's in there, now? That's so cool."

Wufei accepted Heero and Trowa's more restrained congratulations with a handshake. "Thank you. My involvement was negligible," he muttered shyly.

"Oh, I wouldn't say dat, exactly." Trowa grinned and Wufei cringed.

"I didn't mean…" Wufei started to say but left the rest dangling in mid air.

Heero was pretty sure his prudish schoolteacher friend didn't know what he had meant to say, but only wanted to crawl away and hide someplace dark and solitary.

"Your contribution was crucial to the success." Winner, of course, came to the rescue. "Let's crack open champagne!"

Wufei was talked into telling the others about setting up a law office; in about two sentences he was done. Trowa and Duo described the loading and unloading they'd done over the entire weekend. This Sunday party was the first time the two had been home for more than a few hours rest for weeks.

"We even missed the Mushroom Festival," Duo said. "I'd never been to one of those."

"There's always next year," Heero said.

_Next year._ He couldn't believe that he had entrusted his business to friends he'd known for less than six months. How his life had changed! Last fall, he never could have imagined sitting on a dock with a nice house, a lover, friends… having slept in manor houses on silk sheets, served food in the governor's mansion, crawled through caves, made love under the stars. Five amazing months and his life had been irrevocably turned around.

He was so lost in thought that he nearly missed Winner's telling of their nice afternoon the day before at the festival. "…sitting on bales of hay while the fiddler played and some people danced."

"What about the food?" Duo asked.

"There were apple presses, new designs on display, and a bake sale with lots of pies and cakes."

Duo turned on Heero. "What did you buy?"

"I should have bought something?"

"Aw, 'Ro… don't tell me you didn't get me any apple pie!"

"Heero!" Quatre said sharply, but with no real anger. "You didn't show him?"

"No, he didn't! Show me what?"

Heero drew out the moment. He thought his boyfriend was adorable when he was all worked up over nothing. "I bought you one of Lady Meg's famous apple pies. You can have it later."

"Now."

"It will keep," Quatre assured him. "I have some other news."

Duo grumbled a bit _about_ needing pie to exist, especially that particular pie, but settled down when Quatre's tone turned serious.

"Zechs' partial bridge is built, as complete as it will be. It blocks a sufficient amount of the river so that the smaller flatboats can get through, but anything bigger and taller can't."

"Bigger and taller? What would that be?"

"That's the bad news. Tsubarov had other copies of the plans and another prototype engine; at least we think so. Zech's spies have described a large ship in construction north of Tumult."

"Then our fight isn't far off."

"No. A couple months." Quatre's eyes met Duo's over top Heero's head as he had Trowa prepared to leave.

"I'll be ready by then," Heero assured them. "Don't worry."

"We won't."

Duo led him inside, supporting him on one side while he used a crutch, resentfully on the other. From their bedroom window, night was born with a rich blueness, and the pale crescent of a moon came up from behind the Sanc kingdom hills, but sank in an hour. Winter would be upon them in full force by the time the ships would be prepared.

"Here you go," Duo said, delivering Heero to the soft bed.

"Here _you _come."

"Yeah."

They embraced and melted in one another's arms. Skin on skin contact created a beautiful catastrophe, the epicenter pulsating shockwaves through their terrestrial bodies. Together they made the music of the ages. They could sigh in concert. And when their lovemaking found completion, Heero could enjoy one last wonder. He could watch his lover sleep, study his serene face, watch his chest rising and falling with each breath. Heero was thankful to be alive, to have this home, and to have the wonderful life he'd found with one, Duo Maxwell.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to WL for fine editing and SD for the pie to die for.

End Halfway to Sublimity, Chapter 27


	28. Chapter 28

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, language, rated for male x male sexual situations

Mostly Yuy's POV, Duo at the very end

_

* * *

Heero woke and slept in a near dream-like haze for several days as his leg mended. Vague memories of a long bumpy ride wrapped in hot blankets clouded his mind at first, and then became confused with crawling through a cold cave tunnel. His more lucid recollections revolved around Duo's ever-present face and Nurse Po's less longed-for one._

"I want to go home," Heero murmured.

"You are home, babe. Remember?" came his lover's sleepy voice from one side.

"Oh. Yeah." It was dark, probably the middle of the night. He was in bed. His bed. Home with Duo. He heard the rustle of bed sheets as Duo turned to his side and touched his arm.

"Bad dreams again, huh?"

Not so much bad as ever present, returning him to the events of the last month each night when he tried to sleep. Heero rubbed at his face to make the dream world go away. That was over. He'd been in his own home for several weeks already.

"Yes. More dreams."

"I'll stay home. Wufei will love taking the helm with Trowa again. I'll run over and tell him."

It was the middle of a cold winter night. "No, you won't," Heero told him. "Hilde would kill you for waking them up. It's okay. I'll be fine."

"I don't mind facing death for you."

"Idiot. What good would you be to me with frostbite?"

His lover stretched his neck to look out the frosted window. The heavy braid slid over his back and hit Heero in the face with a thunk. "It is rather chilly out there."

"Yes. Now settle down. I'm fine, like I said."

"Dunno," he said through a yawn, snuggling into his warm spot with an arm around his wakeful lover.

And Heero _was_ fine. The braid was moved but remained in Heero's hand to be stroked absent mindedly. He didn't know why the disturbing dreams still haunted him. He missed Duo while he was away running freight up the river with Trowa. But he wasn't alone, much. Winner and Chang both visited him daily. Besides, he'd lived alone before he'd met Duo. And his head felt clearer than it had in days or weeks. Idiotic dreams!

"I feel worthless enough. Don't screw up Wufei's life over this, not more than I have already." For over a month Heero had been a dead weight everyone had had to carry around or work around.

"Worth lots tuhmee," came the sleepy response. "Feet ummm…warm."

Heero drifted off to sleep still thinking of his uselessness at anything but being a bed warmer.

_Icy cold winter rains had settled in making the roads deeply rutted, dangerous and muddy messes, but still, Sally Po had made the arduous trip from Sublimity to Zechs' outpost in order to apply her nursing skills to his injuries. Capable and kind-hearted, she had also mended Duo's numerous cuts and scrapes and tended to any other of the minor injuries the young men had suffered. She came originally at the bequest of Colonel Zechs Merquise, but fell in with the cause and aided the brave young men, accepting Winner's money in payment for the ox-cart ride, but nothing else._

_When he had first been injured, lying there at Zechs compound, he remembered having no idea what day of the week it was or the season. Duo, it seemed, was always near to ease his worries and ground him in reality. _

"_Quat says he'll send his carriage around to collect us as soon as he's sure it won't break an axle getting here."_

"_How long?"_

"_Maybe tomorrow."_

"_No! How long have I been here?"_

_Heero wished Duo didn't look so sad. He liked his smile and optimism. He looked tired but clean and fed. He guessed that they had been here a couple days. "Catherine dropped us here at Zechs' river house four days ago. Everyone is fine."_

"_The boat." Heero groaned and growled with frustration. "I'll lose every customer if I don't get back to work."_

_When Duo sighed, he realized that once again he must have forgotten what he'd been told before. "Just tell me again," he insisted. "I'm coherent now."_

"_Trowa and Wufei are covering our route. You aren't going out—"_

"_Yes, I am!"_

"_No, you're not! Not on a flatboat where you can lose your balance and fall overboard and sink like a rock with that dead weight cast on your leg."_

_Like an anchor._

_Duo went on to say, "I'll trade places with 'Fei eventually, 'cause he has other things to do at home; probably soon, now that you're out of danger. But don't argue. Oh… no… don't go giving me that hang-dog look either. Quat's got plenty of work for you at home."_

"_Paper work!"_

"_Probably, but there's Lucifer's fur balls to clean up and Ruggles to entertain. And Ruggles' puppies! You can cook and clean." Duo cuddled close and smiled. "Indulge me, babe. Make me a proper wife."_

"_I'm no woman!" Heero huffed then settled back on his pillows rather subdued. "After you've fussed over me for days, I suspect, you probably think I owe you." Heero felt sulky, but taking it out on Duo wasn't right, and he knew it, but couldn't help himself._

"_Darlin', after all you did coverin' my ass when I was busted up, there's no owin' nobody nothin'."_

_Well, damn. Heero said mulishly, "I don't liked being fussed over."_

"_Mollycoddled," Duo teased._

_Heero prickled further. "Overprotected."_

"_Spoiled like a baby," Duo cooed. _

"My baby..."

And then Heero felt the bed move as his lover dove to draw his attention with a passionate kiss, leaning in and kissing him softly and deeply. He sighed. Duo had done that so many times— distracted him out of his funk with the application of affection. The touch of those lips was so sweet. He hated when the kiss was broken.

Duo whispered in his ear, "You've got me. There's no one else that can make me feel as good as you. I'll stay with you and care for you as long as you need me."

And Heero knew he meant it too. Everything they did together was fantastic. Even the sadness knowing Duo would be gone again in the morning was more bearable because Duo was there now and feeling bad that he was injured and unable to work alongside him.

No one had ever comforted Heero like that before. He certainly had never been allowed to comfort someone either. Hugging and crying was just not done in the Odin Lowe "family"; in fact, he could still hear the words echoing in his mind, "stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about".

"C'mere, love." Heero tightened his embrace and nuzzled into Duo's soft hair. How could he explain, say in words how important a part of his life Duo had become? More than an arm? A legs? All his limbs?

"We oughta sleep, ya know? Unless you wanna update on what's up on the river?"

"No." Heero decided he would have to show Duo just how important he was to him, work up a little sweat, and burn off some excess energy in order to go back to sleep. Heero's hand swept over his groin. "Not necessary. I can tell what's _up_ this way just fine." His lover's soft moans nearly drove him nuts. "I need you."

"O—k-kay," Duo stuttered in response.

Loving bodies intertwined with moans as both young men brought the other to completion. Sleep could wait that little bit longer.

But when it came, sleep brought with it more dreams. Once again, Heero replayed the events of the month before. It was as if his mind was fighting a move into the present until he had the full use of both legs.

_Quatre arrived, bringing with him the news of the day and his guarded, Cajun lover. Trowa seemed to be on the alert, even at a compound milling with Zech's trusted soldiers. When he was with Quatre, he acted like the young man's bodyguard. Heero could make out the bulges of firearms under his coat and suddenly missed his own. _

_Winner, on the other hand, appeared carefree, effusive in his greetings, giving the recalcitrant injured man a breathtakingly tight embrace and Duo a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you can come home. Todd's been taking very good care of it and is waiting for us to arrive."_

_Heero looked to Duo for confirmation. "Yes?"_

"_Sure, let's split!"_

"_Is dat all settled den? We takin' him back home?"_

"_Yes," Quatre chirped, obviously delighted to take his friends home at last. "While you get Heero comfortable in the coach, I have a few people to thank for their hospitality. I won't be long."_

_Heero knew that meant his friend had a few men to pay off to keep their mouths firmly shut about anything they may have overheard. Mostly the men and women living at the compound were soldiers under Zechs command and very honorable and trustworthy. Still, they could never be too careful._

_Aside from the badly rutted roadway, it was a fine traveling day for winter, considering it was only a three hour ride to home. The sun shone silver against a stunning blue sky. The air was cold but the sun's rays warming, melting any lingering ice in the sheltered shadows. It was perfect for running freight, Heero surmised, had he had two good legs to run with. _

_Ugh! Sally had told him he wouldn't be healed for nine weeks. Considering he had slept through the first one, mostly, and that he normally healed at a faster rate than other people, Heero calculated that he would be fit for duty in two months, which was too long a time. He would cut it to one. Somehow._

_How could he endure a month of inactivity? He couldn't. Clearly. _

"_I'll invent crutches with rollers. Something. So I can get around faster," Heero declared as he climbed out of the carriage in an ungainly fashion._

_Todd was there, Ruggles bursting from the boy's arms the moment he heard Heero's voice. Duo intercepted the eager dog before he could plow into his hobbled master._

"_Hey, I'm back too. Say hello to me."_

"_Raw-oooo!" _

_Ruggles slobbered Duo's face and wiggled and squirmed in his tight hold. There was just the one dog. The litter of new puppies were, thankfully, with the mother back at the Winner stable._

"_Okay! I'll carry you over to 'Ro. No jumping!"_

_Heero watched Todd nervously waiting for his turn to greet the men. He thought the kid had grown several inches and figured he was behind paying him several silver coins._

"_Hello, Todd," Heero said in greeting. "I see our cabin's still standing."_

_In fact, Heero thought nothing looked so good to him before than that old wooden house painted by his and his lover's hands._

"_Oh, yes, sir! I gotcher mail and I aired out the place, just as Master Winner ordered. What else? Oh, yeah… Goats are fine, and gonna drop kids in spring."_

_One good thing about winter, the weeds hadn't taken over. "The place looks—" Heero began._

_Both Heero and Duo declared together, "Wonderful."_

_Duo dumped the dog on Trowa and gathered the mail, leaving Heero to settle up with Todd. Paying off the boy pretty much emptied him of pocket money. He hoped Duo was better off financially, if they were to have anything to eat. He shouldn't have worried, though. Quatre and Trowa had the pantry well stocked and plenty of dry firewood stacked high by the door._

_Lucifer the cat lay stretched by the fireplace, unable to relinquish her warm spot to greet her noisy housemates, so she let out a weak "meow," and fell promptly to sleep. Once Heero was situated comfortably on the couch, Trowa dumped his dog unceremoniously on his lap with a simple, "'Dere you go."_

_Quatre made tea while Duo dashed about, checking each room and shouting out his progress to Heero._

"_The flowers I picked ya dried in the vase."_

"_They were from fall and dried before we even left!" Heero shouted back, unheard. Didn't matter._

"_I shoulda cleaned the bathroom before we left!"_

_Ugh! Heero didn't even want to imagine what Duo had discovered there. It had to be better than what they'd found when the outhouse had been dismantled. It seemed a life time ago that they'd been rebuilding the cabin, adding the extra bedroom, bathroom, and indoor laundry. _

"_Anyway you can soak in the tub with a cast?"_

_No. Heero remembered how difficult it had been for Trowa when they'd helped him bathe with his leg bandaged. Long, luxurious soak? Wasn't going to happen._

"_Put 'do the laundry' at the top of your 'to do' list, okay?"_

_Heero just nodded. _

_Exhausted by the journey home, he was maintaining consciousness, not lists, currently. God, he hated being so eternally wasted and useless._

_Wufei came in just in time for tea. The boat was tied up for the night and "battened down" using wooden slats to fasten the tarpaulin over the hatch in case of bad weather. He and Trowa had taken off the day from river work, but a storm warning meant someone had to care for the boats. _

_It had been his turn, Wufei told everyone. "Besides, I'd much rather wash down the boat than push a carriage out of the mud."_

_Heero silently agreed. He'd rather do anything than be a cripple any longer._

"_In that case," Duo said, "can you handle the boat one more day so I can get Heero settled in here--?"_

"_That won't be necessary," he spoke up. 'I'll be fine after I sleep tonight. I can get around good enough to fix meals and do some cleaning." He fixed his gaze on Wufei, who looked relieved, he thought. "You've done more than enough. I don't know how to thank you and Trowa as it is."_

_Quatre threw his arms around his neck, exclaiming, "You just did! Now let's not talk about who owes what anymore. We're all friends and friends help one another as best they can. Trowa and I have been picking up Wufei and then coming over here in the morning. Tomorrow, Wufei can get back to teaching at the school with Hilde, and I'll stay and help you. It will be fun!"_

"_Can you cook?" Duo asked. Trowa muffled a laugh._

"_No, but Heero can tell me what to do. I'll be the legs!" _

_Heero couldn't object. Winner was so… pleased with his plans._

Heero's problems didn't disappear with the morning light. Duo had to rush out to do the work he, Heero, should be assisting with and not Trowa! Quatre brought a servant to help with the laundry, giving Heero a chance to teach him the fundamentals of cooking simple food for two. It also kept him from having to stare at the soaking tub, something else off limits to him for now.

There was a crash in the laundry. "I'd better go tend to that," Quatre cried out and dashed in the direction of the noise.

Heero didn't want to know what had happened as the cat streaked by. He chose to go out to the back where he hadn't been in months. Lucifer joined him when he tried to check on the garden and possibly add more mulch to cover the exposed rhubarb and artichokes trying to overwinter. The cat demonstrated the route to take, leaping lightly from stone to log to garden. As Heero attempted to cross the path, though, his crutches sank and became mired in mud.

"Crap! You devil cat! Why didn't you warn me about the mud?"

She settled just out of the reach of his crutches and closed her eyes, as much as to say, "I didn't get my paws muddy, now, did I?"

"Heero are you outside? Heero! What are you do--? Oh! I'm coming!"

"Go ahead and laugh," Heero told him. Even he knew how amusing a scene they must have made with the cat watching him try to free himself.

Winner checked his chuckles, though, and shouldered most of Heero's weight, helping him get his feet under him, and extract his crutches. Without Quatre's help, it might have taken him an hour to hobble back into the house and de-muddify his crutches.

"Thanks," he said.

He was grateful, but he just hated being so feeble and needy all the time. He felt worse when they shared smiles, because Quatre had smeared mud on his ivory-colored slacks making them "twins." How much more pitiful could a guy become, he wondered?

"This is so much more fun than sitting around in my house." The cheerful blond carried a shallow bucket of soapy water and some rough towels and then set to cleaning Heero's crutches.

His wistful tone confused Heero. "Your place is beautiful. How can you say that?"

"Because here I get to do things, useful things." Winner grinned, "but tomorrow I'll be happy to be there running the business."

"Hn." Heero wished he could be satisfied with life again. He stared at his cast and found another glop of mud to remove.

All in all, he was not a happy camper. Housekeeping chores when Duo wasn't around were next to nothing. The cat wanted nothing from him but fresh water. Ruggles ran back and forth freely between the Winner property and their cottage, requiring little from Heero than the occasional "good boy" head scratch.

Even when Quatre had brought him ship plans to review, Heero had wondered if his markup and suggestions were ever noted back at the construction site. He missed the river work and the feeling of power and worth that it gave him. For six weeks, Sally' Po's directions had be closely adhered to. He didn't think he could bear waiting another three for the cast to come off.

Maybe Winner sensed his gloomy mood, because the next evening he arranged for the friends to share a dinner and catch up on the current reports.

"And I'll make the whole dinner!" the winsome blond declared.

Heero wouldn't argue; he couldn't possibly win against the "Winner," and he couldn't watch, so he lounged on the couch. When it came to the cooking, he'd move to the bedroom while Quatre used the fireplace.

"What do I do first? I brought beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and mushrooms the caretaker found just this morning. Isn't that nice?"

_Swell._

Heero directed him to cut up the meat into bite-sized portions and brown them in the cast iron pan and stumped off out of sight.

Quatre, he discovered, could work and talk at the same time, just like Duo, concentrating on both equally well.

"I'm so glad you're doing better, Heero."

"Hn."

"You've come around very fast. Looks like Duo was the best medicine you could have."

"Yes."

"Of course, I'm sure you let him know how much you appreciate him."

_I will, I will,_ Heero promised himself, but said, "Yes," to satisfy his friend.

"Good. Okay, the meat is brown. What next?"

"Cooking the meat slowly. You have to cover the meat with water, add a spoonful of salt and put over the fire. After that, you'll be chopping vegetables. All of them. Bite-sized, then add to the pot."

Heero moved to the couch again and dosed off to the rhythmic sound of chop, chop, chop… and roused to the sound of Quatre's voice in the room. He was carrying a bowl brimming with vegetables and the smell of herbs and some other unusual seasoning he didn't recognize at first.

"I just add these now, right?"

"Yes, then move the pot to the back where the coals are cooler."

"There. This wasn't so hard. Won't everyone be surprised that I made the dinner?"

Heero looked up, nodding. His friend looked proud of an achievement the others could have pulled off in half the time. Well, everyone but him, the gimp. His eyes dodged to the window, feeling no more wanted than a rock in the road or a wart--.

"Are you all right, Heero? I'm sorry if I said something to upset you."

"I feel like a wart on a frog. No, the warts probably serve _some_ purpose."

"Oh, pooh! Remember, I took care of Trowa during his convalescence and no one can be less useful than him."

Heero looked up sharply to see Quatre grinning at him. "It's true, but it was also fine with me. It gave me a chance to pamper him."

Covering his face with a hand, Heero groaned. "Duo likes it too. You and he are rather alike in many ways."

"You know," Quatre stopped as if to put all his thought into what he was saying. "When we were growing up, you and I should have been best of friends. If father wouldn't have isolated me from the other children in town, we would have spent more time together. I can't help but wonder that if things had been different, would have been you and me living up in the big house together?"

Which would have left Duo to fall for the charming Cajun trader and gambler. Not on his watch! No, that would not do. "I can't visualize that," Heero said, meaning he wouldn't try and hoped the blond sunbeam would get the hint and drop the subject.

But no. Heero was to learn just how unalike he and Quatre were when it came to maintaining conversation.

"Just think for a moment. Pretend, Heero, just for fun! Odin Lowe was wealthy, if he hadn't died and left you penniless—,"

"And if Barton's gang never existed!" Heero blurted. "What's your point?"

A look of disappointment flashed across Quatre's face. "Nothing except it's just funny how things turn out."

Heero owed this house, its comforts, and his current state of affluence mostly to this man's generosity was how things turned out, but he knew Quatre wasn't thinking of any of that, he was just making friendly conversation and Heero was letting his sour mood twist the meaning around. He tried to put himself back into the past a moment and play along.

"I see what you mean, possibly, about us. After Relena told me why you turned down the marriage proposal, and I confided to her about my own…preference for boys, there was an opportunity for us that was lost. We might have been friends anyway."

"Friends at least… maybe more."

Was Quatre suggesting something now? He couldn't possibly be flirting with him. That would be absurd! No, he was certain it was just Quatre's attempt to keep him amused, however, this form of society small-talk bothered Heero. "I, I can't see Duo with Trowa."

"Oh, well, _I can_, heh, heh, which is why I'm glad things turned out the way they did." He shot Heero a dazzling smile. "I think we did well in the companion department. Variety is the spice of life, don't you think?"

_Was it?_ Heero decided to agree and hope that was enough to satisfy his chatty friend on that topic. "Yes."

The reference to spice turned Heero's thoughts back to the stew and that funny smell. Cinnamon? Certainly the novice cook wouldn't have spoiled a stew with cinnamon, his expensive cinnamon.

"Why don't you just close your eyes and rest while I check on the laundry. Where do you dry things?"

"We set up the drying racks in here near the fire."

"Oh, of course. We can move them into that new guest room later when our friends arrive, which reminds me," Winner muttered on his way out of the room, "I ought to make up the bed in the guest room, just in case."

"Guest room--?" Heero started to ask, but then remembered the new room, yet to be initiated since the bathroom addition was put in, did have a mattress on the floor, thanks to Winner, again.

"In case of what?" he wondered next, but before he could voice his concerns, he fell under the spell of rain drumming on the roof and the sound of the wind outside lulling him to sleep.

Heero woke up to the orange glow of flickering light from the fire reflected everywhere off the expanses of sheets. Alarmed, he sat up abruptly to find the front room dark and draped in sheets and clothes drying on racks_. No emergency._ From someplace out of sight, he heard Winner's voice directing traffic. Duo and Trowa must have arrived, he reasoned, which meant he hadn't dozed off long at all.

"Just move them to the guest room-- that was what Heero said-- and then let's move the table around so he doesn't have to move from the couch. Careful, Duo, don't smack the cat!"

The cat let out a demon howl and skedaddled to the far reaches of the house.

"Nice job, _mon ami,"_ Trowa chuckled.

"I've been dying to get even for that animal for puking fur balls on the only rug in the house," Heero heard Duo whisper, "but don't tell Kitty-Quat."

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back, in mo' ways den one."

"Oooh, more of that Cajun logic. Ha!" Duo laughed.

"You didn't hurt that beautiful cat, did you Duo Maxwell!" he heard Quatre cry out from far, far away, from the "guest room," he guessed.

"Lord, no! Not me! The rack did it." Then Duo's voice was very near, his breath light on his cheek. "Hi, love. You ready for us to invade here. Hungry?"

"Yes." He had nothing to do except smile and let his lover wait on him. Life was tough.

He even smiled when Quatre gave him a wink and said, "And I made the stew, so let me know how it is. Be honest or I won't get better."

Duo froze in place fork in hand, mouth partway open. "Uh—"

Trowa, who had about to take a bite of the meat, hesitated to say, "You did?" His eyes shifted to Heero for confirmation.

"I instructed him from the living room," Heero replied carefully avoiding meeting anyone's eyes, including his boyfriend's.

"You test it, babe?"

Heero shook his head to the negative. He dared not look Duo directly in the eye. Winner had tried hard to prepare this meal, but he'd made a mistake and Heero wasn't a good enough cook to know how to correct it.

Duo nodded. "Okay, then." He stabbed at the meat first and chewed, eyes widening as the unexpected flavor struck. When he swallowed he told Trowa, "Try it and see what you think."

Heero noticed that when the attention was on Trowa, his boyfriend surreptitiously fed Ruggles a forkful of meat under the table.

"Well?" Quatre asked.

Heero wouldn't have wanted to be in Trowa's shoes at all.

"You trying fo dat spicy curry dose Maguanacs cook?"

The blond head bobbled. "I tried, but it's not right, is it?"

"'Es close, real close, but not right." Trowa collected the plates, scraped the stew back into the pot and took it to the fireplace, all the while explaining, "You need special herbs fo dat." Trowa proceeded to add a few "tings" from his L3 spice collection, plenty of pepper and even some beer while the others watched. He tasted it then offered a taste to Quatre, then Heero, then Duo.

"This is very like Rashid's curry!"

"Whew! Hot! Hot, but good!"

"This is interesting," Heero said. "Where did you learn to cook?"

"De circus and wit the mercenaries. Circus folks liked it spicy, an' Cajuns spicier."

The dinner was portioned out again and the eating resumed. Quatre was satisfied with his doctored stew, swabbing his plate with a hunk of bread just like an L2 street rat.

"So, how is Zechs these days?" Duo asked through a mouthful of food. "Haven't seen hide nor hair of him since we moved back here."

"Glad you asked," Quatre said. "I wanted to share some news, and waited until you all were here." He set back and sipped some water to clear his throat first. "Colonel Merquise has been observing his bridge and traveling north to see for himself what the situation is there. He's verified that Tsubarov built another prototype engine and there's a large ship in construction up north. More importantly, the word is that Dekim Barton's angry!"

Trowa put down his knife and fork. "Aw, now ain't dat juss too bad?"

"If he's in with Tsubarov's people, and I think he is," Quatre went on, "then there's no way they can pass south to Serendipity, because of that bridge. Zechs was delivered an ultimatum. Take down the bridge, or Barton will. He's accusing Colonel Merquise of blocking the trade routes illegally and all kinds of other allegations."

"And Howard? Have you talked to him? What's his progress?" Heero asked.

"He'd assigned his top notch people to complete a ship based on the earliest designs and others to revise what they built when the demonstration engine arrived. He's made his own modifications after testing it housed in a ship."

"That's the Peacemillion?"

"I think so. He's built several now."

"Do they work?" That was most important to Heero.

"The steam engine works and so does the ship powered by it. The mockup version in the hidden harbor just north of Serendipity is very exciting, and fast, although, is hasn't gone far. Howard is taking it out for short jaunts then making modifications. He has another team of men building a huge metal-clad ship for battle and several smaller, fleeter ones, or so he says."

"Sounds like Howie's building an armada," Duo said. His chuckle carried to the rest of the group around of table.

"I want to see one." And since he couldn't, Heero settled on staring a hole through Quatre's forehead.

"Well, maybe Duo and Trowa can take us to the docks; leave us there for a day while they do deliveries?"

"As long as you sit and not wear yourself down," Duo warned. "I don't know if I can trust you not to try and do too much."

"I promise," Heero said in all seriousness.

They toasted the plans, their good luck, progress, clean sheets, and Heero's cast. At some point they started drawing pictures on the cast and Trowa fell asleep, lying by the hearth with Lucifer on his back and Ruggles at his feet.

"Oh, dear, isn't that precious," Quatre cooed. He reached down and yanked on his lover's arm. "Wouldn't you rather bed down with me?"

Heero turned away, embarrassed when the two men embraced and kissed on the floor. He and Duo kept their affection more private, but Winner was very forthright about getting what he wanted, and right now what he wanted was Cajun ass, or so he was saying.

"Hey, that's what the other room's for!" Duo shouted. "I'll even move the drying racks, but geesh!"

"I'll need a hand with Trowa."

"I see." Duo wrapped one lanky arm over his shoulders and hauled while Quatre slid under the other, bringing the slightly tipsy and totally exhausted Trowa to his feet. "Be careful with him," Duo warned his friend. "The dude worked real hard all day on the river."

"Okay. I'll tuck him in and let him sleep," Quatre said, "like a baby. I promise."

Heero listened as they shuffled the short distance to the spare room, shoved about the racks of damp clothes, and then heard the door close and on pair of footfalls return.

Duo stood over him, offering a hand up. "Your turn. Take me to bed, babe."

Heero did, but he was out like a light the moment his head hit the pillows. He hadn't had a beer in months and it knocked him out. Unfortunately, he still dreamed of running from Barton's mercenaries that night, but it was mercifully brief for a change.

(o)

The next day proved to be both perfect in that Duo and Trowa had goods to pick up in Serendipity and the weather was dry. Heero and Quatre caught a ride south with them past Tumbletown and on to the Tallgeese River Post, which overlooked the delta of the Tallgeese River, feeding into the mighty Rogue. Going inland past the post was the hidden Winner corporation property, purchased in preparation for his steamboat building; it was the same place Heero and Duo had visited while hunting for Middie. Getting Trowa out of that tight spot seemed a long time ago, but it had only been the summer.

Heero and Quatre were helped off the flatboat, handed over to a troop of waiting Maguanacs on the dock. Howard and a Sweepers entourage appeared from an adjoining block house, rejoicing loudly about the "long-awaited maiden voyage of the _Peacemillion." _ The test run "should take a couple hours and be back before dark," Howard had said.

Duo and Trowa watched as the steamer slipped out of the hidden firth. The plan was to maintain a relatively slow pace past any curious eyes in Serendipity, head south toward Serenity and then crank up the engines and see what they could do, put her through her paces until they entered the narrow channel.

They waved goodbye and repeated their promises to be back to collect them before sundown, and then the little flatboat took off, pacing the steamer a minute until catching the southern current and zipping past.

But when Duo and Trowa showed up at the Tallgesse outpost, the steamer wasn't there. And as it became dark and the ship had not yet returned, Duo wasn't sure whether to be hopping mad or frightened to death. Trowa was ready to take the flatboat downstream and start searching, but Duo stopped him.

"Just hold on. Someone here might know something. There's Rashid now."

"Rashiiiiiid! Hey! Where's Howard? Ship's late!" Duo shouted, waving his arms to get the big man's attention.

Trowa set out full tilt aiming to find Quatre or kill someone if he didn't. "W'ere are dey?"

Rashid explained that the _Peacemillion_ had run into a problem, "Very small, very minor, nothing to worry about, nothing serious, but because of the size and weight of the war ship, more than one tug had to be sent for to bring it in. They are due in late tomorrow morning. Why not take a couple of guest bunks and rest? Have dinner."

After convincing Trowa that there was no way they could locate the ship in the dark, much less be of any help, they tottered off to have dinner. Duo ran into a couple Sweepers fellows he knew, and who recognized Trowa from his shot up leg incident, and settled in for a long wait.

As it turned out, the ship didn't make it in to dock until noon the next day, by which time Trowa had once again taken to chain smoking, and Duo had nervously picked away the threads holding up the hem to his shirt.

There was a short chaotic scene at deportation, where Trowa reassured himself that Quatre wasn't injured and Duo made certain Heero hadn't added to his, and they both descended upon Howard to give him a piece of their minds.

When the smoke cleared, Heero agreed to tell them the story of why they were so very much overdue, but it had to be over lunch and immediate.

"First off, a sheriff's vessel stopped us at Serendipity. That was the first delay, but not the worst. When the ship pushed off at last, I discovered that we had in our wake a barge, a low-built thing with a sort of iron barred cage running the entire deck."

"A convict ship," Duo surmised.

"Yeah, in which prisoners for the dreary town of Saghalien south of Serenity were taken down the Rogue. There were no prisoners on board this on, but apparently this new Sweepers merchant company owning the _Peacemillion _had a contract to haul the barge."

"That's the truth," Howard put in. "And they claimed it was an emergency. Nothing I could avoid, but I wish I had. Nothing but trouble-- that damned boat."

"No kidding." Heero shook his head. "The sun was already low and falling behind the trees tops ending the short day already, and there we were waylaid by that. But that was just the start."

"The river south of Serendipity was depleted and full of trips to keep to the channel even in broad sheets of water," Howard grumbled, sounding tired and irritated by the mess as much as everyone else.

"Now and then we felt the ship jar and quiver as the vessel touched and scoured the river bed."

"I should have gone north to bring her up to speed," Howard complained.

Heero commiserated. "Not worth a chance run in with pirates. Besides, this was unusual. Once or twice when the water has been low in late summer, I've had to land part of my freight to lighten the ship enough that I could force bumping over the rocks for five or six miles," he told them.

The old Sweeper nodded. "It says a lot about how heavy a craft Peacemillion must be to set that low in winter."

"At least there was no fog so the steamer journeyed all right. There was starlight, but the deep shadows of the enclosing hills seemed to bulge out banks where there were no banks. Unless extinguished by storms, there were twinkling little oil lamps for guidance - blinking white on the starboard and dim ruby to the port."

"By steering from light to light there was a greater certainty of being in the channel," Howard explained. "Yet I should note a word to the wise-- not always."

"Just at 'the witching hour,' unfortunately, a red lamp on the port side had gone out or was nonexistent. The consequence was that going full steam from white light to white light the ship road up and onto a bank of shingle, making a terrible scraping, crash."

"Then came some excitement," Winner commented for the first time and frowning at the cigarette dangling from Trowa's lips.

"No doubt," his lover muttered as he tossed and ground out the cigarette with a heel.

"The engines were reversed and the steamer dragged herself off, but she was tugging the convict barge, and--,"

Howard interrupted Heero's tale to point out the necessary details, "This barge with considerable _way on_, came tilting her nose right into the stern of the steamer."

"I heard this awful crunch of broken wood and ripped iron plates a very few feet from where we sat. It was terrible to hear!" Quatre cried. "But in the darkness we couldn't see what had happened to the Peacemillion, but Heero, he could see the barge moving away, and informed Captain Howard."

"'The convict ship's swung off!' he yelled," Howard shouted, getting into the act.

"What I noticed when I lowered a lantern over the side," Heero said, "was that the rudder was located too far back on the ship, impairing the steering. I had marked that change on one of the earlier plans, I was certain; implying that I'd been correct when I'd thought my work at home had gone largely ignored."

"Well, that was a mistake, as I said before," Howard murmured into his cup of hot tea. "Damned stupid one, I'll admit."

"So after that," Quatre went on to say, "Captain Howard gave orders for the helm to be 'put over on the starboard side', isn't that how you said it? I got that right? Good. And he ordered the engines to go 'full steam.'"

"The engines did go full steam. But," Heero glared at Howard again. "The rudder had gone, and this was not known till the steamer, as a sort of revenge, went furiously into the convict ship, which she did not injure, though she smashed in her own bow."

"We had a really lively quarter of an hour." Quatre smiled. "Well, we did! It was pitch dark, and the lamps on the ship accentuated the darkness."

"Everything was at sixes and sevens," Howard complained. "No discipline."

"I heard everybody shouting orders and cursing the captain, and for a minute or two I was certain we'd all drown." Winner wrung his hands and took a deep breath.

"The two boats, however, got alongside the bank, and there we hung till morning light came." Howard set down his tea and looked at Heero and Quatre both.

Heero took over the end to the storytelling. "Meanwhile a horse had been got from somewhere, thanks to Quatre's exhaustive plans and backup plans and trusted Maguanacs, and Abdul was sent off a thirty-mile ride back to Serendipity to secure a tugboat and bring it back to take us in tow. This caused a delay of five or so more hours."

"So much fo' de maiden trip," Trowa summarized drily.

"The good news is that Howard's going to make the changes Heero suggested," Quatre cut in to say. "It will probably save him hours of analysis to fix the steering and make it more reactive."

"If he'd done it in the first place, it would have save us hours, too." Heero was not smiling when he said that either, Duo noted.

"Who was the idiot that decided to ignore 'Ro's suggestion in the first place?" Duo asked.

"Some new-hire fresh out of de ship design school, you can bet on." Trowa sneered and reached for a cigarette, remembered he'd stopped smoking, then dropped his hands. "Who ya want is de idiot dat hired de foo'."

"That… would be me," his boyfriend said, with a sigh. "Consider it all a learning process. You can assume no one will ignore any suggestions marked 'Yuy' ever again!"

Heero settled back on in his chair looking well fed, and pleased for a change. Duo hoped his feelings of self-worth had upgraded to near-normal for a change. Duo caught his eye. "Better?"

"Yeah. I really want this cast off, but if I have to wait a few more weeks, I will. Without complaint, too."

"Okay, well," Duo leaned over the table and whispered, "How about getting something else off back at the room they got for us?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and was rewarded with a smile.

"Let's go."

"Hey, Quat? I'm taking 'Ro to our room for a nap. Been a long night for him."

"Good idea. I could use a nap, too. Go on ahead. We have a few bits of business to clear up then I'm heading to our room."

Duo grabbed the crutches and helped his lover to the main house, stopping just short of the ground floor door. Outside, he looked around them, but on this chilly, winter afternoon, there was no one in sight. The grounds appeared deserted with everyone still gathered to talk and eat, or working near the docks. He crossed the space between himself and Heero in two steps, threw his arms around his man, and kissed him single-mindedly.

He felt Heero stiffen for a moment, also trying to look around. Silently praying there were no on-lookers to disturb the moment, he held on tight until Heero surrendered to his embrace and returned his kiss.

"Hey," Heero said, pulling back a fraction of an inch.

"Holy shit," Duo said as he drew a shaky breath.

When Heero looked askance, Duo also sneaked a guilty look over his shoulder. The brief survey of their surroundings confirmed what he'd thought-- they were alone.

Duo nudged with a knee, parted Heero's legs a few inches, and pressed closer. "Out here in the open like this kinda makes me want you big time."

That got him a swift reaction. A blush swept up from Heero's neck. "Ah, as exciting as that thought is, we'd better take it inside."

Within the privacy of their room, they crushed together with hands groping at taut bodies under loose clothing. Duo moaned into a kiss as arms like steel band tightened around him.

"Mmm..."

Hands ran up and down his back, across his shoulders, and down over the rounded muscle leading into his thighs, squeezing and gripping at them hard. He let the stronger man support his weight as he leaned in dizzy from the earthy scent of their skin and lust.

"You…" He growled in warning before attacking his lover's mouth with his own, suckling on Heero's tongue and nibbling at his lips.

When Heero loosened his embrace, Duo licked his lips and moaned softly to the feel of Heero's hands massaging his muscles.

"All systems go," Heero moaned. "Want you." Heero tugged on his braid, coaxing him toward the narrow bunk bed.

"All systems go? You been hanging 'round engineers too long." Duo tore off his boyfriend's shirt, stripping his lover as if he were in a race.

When he pushed him onto the bed to drag the pants off his legs, Heero said, his breath coming in short bursts, "Hey, careful with the cast!"

"Got it covered," Duo said, leaving him naked the next second. "Er, uncovered, heh, heh... Hold still. Let me savor this moment."

His eyes raked over his Asian lover lying stretched out and panting, but only for a few seconds, and then he shucked off his own clothes. He knelt between Heero's legs, lowering himself until their flesh connected from chest to groin. Heero instinctively raised his knees, wrapping one thigh around Duo's torso, and leaving the heavy cast-clad leg out of the action.

The smell of the river, heavy on their skin, combined with the scent of musky arousal. They slid against each other on a slick of sweat, aching with need.

Heero lifted his head slightly, his lips against Duo's ear. "Now."

Duo made love to the man that was his life. He knew that was the case, because he'd died a little inside when he'd had to wait for Heero to show up, not knowing absolutely that he would. He made certain to let Heero know just how important he was to him.

And that night, Duo's lover slept a deep and dreamless sleep, and the next, and the next. After that, new adventures haunted the nightscape.

* * *

End Chapter 28


	29. Chapter 29

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, language, rated for male x male sexual situations

A/N: thanks for beta reading goes to Waterlily, who, along with Snowdragon, I'm most grateful for support and encouragement.

* * *

(Heero's POV)

To celebrate having his leg freed from its confines, Heero joined Duo and Trowa, taking the flatboat and a canoe north for surveillance duty. They felt pressure from Zechs to gather information on their enemy's reputed northern naval base, so they set out the very day the cast was removed.

Duo insisted that he bundle up well and that he let Trowa and him do all the work. As a result, Heero decked Trowa in a tussle for the pole and stripped down to his shirt and fur-lined vest, a luxurious gift from Quatre to each of the men, before taking up his lead position at the "helm" of his boat. It was a stupid act of defiance, and he knew it, but it was his damn boat; his job.

His lover "let him" show off for an hour then took over before he fell over. Heero was disgusted with himself. "My endurance is shot."

Trowa, nursing his still-sore jaw, told him, "I hadn't noticed you goin' soft."

"Sorry about that," Heero said sheepishly.

Trowa's smile stretched and they both shared a gentle chuckle. "You be all righ' in no time."

"I wish time would stop for a few days," Heero muttered, leaning back on a pile of folded oilcloth tarps.

The enemy's steam ship building site and naval base turned out to be in a bedraggled shanty town north of Tumult called, ironically, Devine. Trowa was the only one of the three who had spent time there. He knew the area better than the others and combined with his experience at infiltrating, hiding, and gathering information from his past trading days, he became the best choice to lead the investigatory work. He knew that when the river branched, the "upper" way was more treacherous, but faster, and took them on the "lower", main part of the Rogue.

"Dotcha think they'd hide a shipyard that way?" Duo had asked.

"No, dere's rapids an' high cliffs, no way to make channels fo' boats."

"Oh."

Heero thought Duo sounded disappointed. He seemed to like excitement and daring acts. They'd be plenty when they found the hidden enemy base, of that Heero was certain.

"Besides," the Cajun said with a half-smile, "I gots me an idea w'ere it may be."

He steered the flatboat close in, examining every inlet, switching to his canoe when necessary to creep up on low lying areas. Ice rimmed the shoreline and a stiff headwind buffeted against them all the way. After one of his solo jaunts, he lashed the canoe to the flatboat and climbed aboard.

"Well?" Duo asked.

"It's here," Trowa replied. "The Rogue branches, the upper going up this way and the lower going here around that island ahead."

"Flatboats stick to the upper; it's deeper and faster," Heero said. "The two parts meet up a mile ahead."

Trowa nodded. "What the enemy's done is cut a canal into the lower river and taken it inland to the base."

"We can't just float up there," Duo said.

"No, we can't." Trowa just stood there looking into the distance, examining the shoreline. "We go by foot. Put in up dat small channel."

Duo handed over the pole, "Here, you're the expert at tight-in maneuvering."

"Hn," Heero grunted with satisfaction, and then he smiled. "Yes, I am in every sense of the word." His lover's pride-saving moves weren't lost on him; they were appreciated.

"Every sense…?" Duo's smile widened as he got the sexual implication. "Oh, yeah. Love your dirty mind."

Trowa snorted, making Heero chuckle as he put his back into the pole. He steered his boat to the shore and into the narrow waterway that dead-ended within 200 feet.

There, Trowa hopped to the shoreline, slippery with ice, tested a few abject trees for one stout enough, and tied the boat off. Duo helped him sheer brush and cut branches and toss them to Heero to camouflage the flatboat.

"Good 'nuff," Duo said. "My hands are numb. I gotta get moving or I'll freeze standing."

Along the banks of the canal stretched a higgledy-piggledy lot of shanties all unpainted, all with little dirty windows, and all with a yard that was more than ankle deep in cattle filth. There was usually a rude fence, always broken, allowing the cows, poor thin brutes, and the pigs, ridge-backed, flabby, and bristled, to wander anywhere.

The pathway crunched under their feet with ice but held.

"Nasty place," Trowa said, but then Heero knew he hated the cold climate of the north, preferring the Cajun bayou.

"Yeah," Heero agreed; he certainly had nothing good to say. When even Duo didn't share his thoughts, he wondered if it reminded him of the L2 area.

"You hearing strange yells?" Duo asked, his arm flying out to block the way.

"And animals comin' dis way, fast. Move off de road!" Trowa shouted.

There came scampering a herd of Siberian ponies. The three travelers bounded to one side, shut their eyes, and prayed they wouldn't be trampled while the hairy beasts jostled by.

"That was a close one," Duo said. He took a swipe at a chunk of mud flung onto his pants.

"Shh! Don' move," Trowa ordered.

Squinting into the rising mist, Heero saw tawny-jowled herdsmen with huge sheepskin hats about their ears, the wool inside, and with great sheepskin coats, also with the fur turned to the inside, riding sorry nags and whipping up the straggling ponies with long biting thongs. The men took no notice of the three travelers.

"Ah, shit," Duo groaned. "Look at the road now."

It had turned into a six-inch mass of slush, part frozen, forcing them three walkers to trample through the low brush and weeds at the side. They were glad for the warm coats and heavy boots—the air was several degrees colder here than in lovely temperate Sublimity.

Lucky for them they hadn't far to go before spotting the enemy naval base. Numerous dry docks were filled with large ships in various stages of completion and a few ships were floating nearby. One had attached what Heero considered to be a rudimentary steam engine.

"Man, I wish I'd brought explosives," Duo whined. "We could take out the whole place."

"Too dangerous, _mon ami_."

"That's right," Heero agreed. "It's up to Zechs to step up barricades to ports and manage land attacks. He just needs information."

"So, let's get it."

Heero remained in position, watching as Trowa scrambled down from the outlook to the water, close in to inspect the ships, and Duo worked his way to a far off point. Should a guard fire upon them, he would provide cover, Duo would set up the diversion, and Trowa would lead the retreat.

He kept an eye trained on both friends, rifle at the ready. "Barton, you are one amazing man," he whispered to himself as he watched his friend thread through the tight ranks of ships unnoticed. "Don't go there," Heero muttered automatically, although uselessly since he couldn't hear him, warning his friend away from the building at the end of the dock.

Trowa must have noticed the guarded entrance, Heero thought with relief, because he backed off, heading toward the ship with the steam engine instead.

Heero glanced to where he'd last seen Duo and suffered a moment of panic when he couldn't spot him. When he did, Duo looked about to inspect an outbuilding. What Duo couldn't see was the guard playing solitaire on an upturned hunk of slag in the shadow of a stack of crates.

"Get away from that," he whispered uselessly, again. How could he warn Duo without giving away his location and endangering Trowa? A shaft of light escaping from the low sun in the cloud-filled sky gave him an idea.

"Keep with me, sun." Heero withdrew his knife, polished it briefly on his pants, and then moved it into the light, twisting it slightly until the sun glinted off the bright edge. He checked the result. Duo, however wasn't looking for warning flashes, so he adjusted the angle further, aiming right for his lover's head. Duo's hand flew to his eyes and he knelt to avoid the light. Heero followed his movement. "You can't escape me," he grumbled.

He was rewarded by Duo's grin and a slight hand movement indicating he'd like Heero to back off. He lowered the knife. "Now, you back off," he whispered.

Duo pointed at the building. "No you don't," he thought and flashed the light, now dim. He was about to lose the sun completely behind a cloud. "Back off."

He held his breath until he watched Duo creep away and go into hiding in a scrubby copse of trees, then his scrutiny returned to pinpointing Trowa's whereabouts. "C'mon, you Cajun sneak. Where are you?"

A full minute later, he heard a bird call halfway between where he'd last seen Trowa and his own outpost. It was the agreed upon "all clear" signal for Duo to return and to warn him of Trowa's imminent return. Trowa knew better than to surprise a man like him on a hair trigger with a loaded rifle.

"It's me, mon ami," Trowa said after making a purposely noisy entrance.

"Hn. Duo's on his way." Heero's eyes flickered to catch Trowa's and then returned to scanning the path he expected Duo to take.

"Dey had mounts fo' steam engines, but not so well designed as Howard's."

"At least what you could see," Heero noted.

Duo scrambled up the muddy path to join them. "Thanks for the warning. I might've gotten 'round the guy, but—"

"Not worth the risk," Heero told him. He grasped his lover by the shoulders and drew him close enough for a hard, possessive kiss. He needed the reassurance that his lover was whole and alive and wasn't shy about revealing that vulnerability. Emotional needs were acceptable, physical less so, bodily injury should be overcome. "I need you," he whispered into the cold ear.

"Me, too, babe," Duo replied, chuckling as Trowa cleared his throat.

"I could tell dat dey were all sidewheeler's wid no way to climb de sandbars."

"To do what?" Duo asked.

Heero pulled away but kept an arm around Duo's waist. "Grasshoppering," He demonstrated. One hand held the thick braid, while his other hand bounded up the long braid on bent fingers.

"With a _boat_?" Duo pulled his hair and whipped the braid to his back. 'You pulling my leg or something?"

"No, no! Howard likes his boats mostly stern-wheelers fo' good reason. If dey hit a sandbar, dey turn about and dig dere way t'rough wid de big wooden wheel."

"They 'walk' over the bar." Heero's fingers leaped up Duo's arm this time. "Grasshoppering," Duo said.

"Dat's righ'."

"When did you get so informed?" Duo asked Trowa.

"Befo' I come here, I studied up so I know w'at to look fo'." Trowa rubbed his hands together generating little heat. "If dey got de engines fo' all des ships inside dat building, den Zechs' folks will be in deep trouble."

"Then, let's get a message to him," Heero said, all business now. "There must be a postal service in Devine."

Duo shook his head. "'Ro, I'm not sure we can trust the folks there to get a message south."

"Probably right," Trowa agreed.

"Let's check the town, then. We need fresh water and food supplies. If it feels good we'll send a message, if not we'll shoot directly home."

"It'll be dark," Trowa warned.

"I know the route from Tumult to home well enough to go in the dark."

"Righ'. Den we go to town."

First they wound back to their boat, uncovering it and driving it back up the channel and to the dilapidated wharves of Devine. They found an out of the way place to tie up alongside another boat, damaged and listing to the side, and covered it with oilcloth held down by broken crates. With their boat hidden, the three travelers set out to study the town.

At one spot, behind the string of shanties, was a town square. There were a few big, blue-painted signboards with names on them, but most the signs had badly executed paintings of a fur coat or a plough or a kettle or a cabbage or a lump of meat, advertizing the clothing or agricultural implements or food inside to those unable to read.

For a workday afternoon, the place was unwelcoming and desolate. The place appeared deserted, but then they caught sight of a lady hurrying along in layers of raggedy clothes. Around the corner they spotted an officer wearing a white linen jacket with a yellow band round his cap, a broad yellow stripe down his trousers, and an adornment of badges to distinguish his rank. They avoided contact with the officer by ducking into a bleak-looking dry goods.

The shop, so dingy from the outside, surprised them when once inside. It was clean, full of commodities, a couple of attendants, and a few other purchasers, chiefly, judging by their blond hair and style of dress, from the far North interior of the kingdom. This decent store in so wretched a place amazed them till they remembered that Devine benefited from having the secret ship building to draw workers, workers who demanded merchandise, even if the local townspeople couldn't afford to buy it.

One of the employees looked free. "Let me question her," Heero said.

"Aw, that lady could be my mom. We can trust her." Heero watched as Duo turned on the charm with his cheerful smile and wide-eyed expression. He didn't expect him to be so direct, though. "Is there a way to post urgent messages?" Duo asked the grey-haired woman manning the counter.

Heero watched Trowa tense to high alert status as he bemoaned the situation. He'd meant to warn Duo against saying anything; he wanted to do it. Since the entire town was somehow involved in the shipbuilding- and it was a tiny out-of the-way sort of place with not a lot of through-traffic- Heero thought someone might report three mysterious strangers passing through, _especially_ if they wanted to send a message. _Oh, Duo._

"All mail goes through Tumult and that's once a day and it's already out for today."

Duo listened and shook his head. "Yeah, I imagine all these military hotshots milling about have their own means of communication, leaving the rest of us up shit creek."

The woman's expression actually softened a bit. "We never have had better," she said. "You have important business in town?"

Before Duo could reply, Heero stepped in to deflect any more questions. "It the boat. We haul goods and my tiller needs urgent repair. The port blockades make it difficult. I was just trying to avoid conflict and get word to a comrade to haul us out."

Now he realized that Trowa had been reacting to a different possible threat.

"You ole Cajun," said a loud voiced man in trader leathers. "Where you been hidin' yerself? Ain't seen hide nor hair of you in Tumult fer a year."

With a hand on the pistol stuffed in his coat pocket, Heero limped to the rescue. If by favoring the one leg he mislead the stranger to think he was feeble and underestimate him, then that could work in his favor, plus he was afraid to put too much weight on the weaker leg and collapse. "He's part of my crew."

"That so?" The stranger raked his eyes over him and Duo and then back to Trowa. "You pretty boys outta stick together." He grinned. "Maybe you need a he-man like me to guarantee yer safe passage outta here?"

"You dink we need yer ugly mug for protection?" Trowa put in with a chuckle. He took the man aside at that point to talk completely defusing the pressure.

The woman at the counter was even smiling now. Somehow the interfering man had given them credence, identifying them enough as not complete strangers. She leaned over the counter, close to Duo. "You should know that this is dock-check day and have your papers in order."

Heero looked to Trowa, who wasn't paying attention in an obvious way. Trowa should have warned them about the possibility of port security from his stay in Tumult and trading past.

"Er…? Today?" Duo asked.

"Yes, they come by once every five days."

"Oh, sure," Duo said with a mournful sake of his head, "but already? Yeah, well thanks for the heads up. This tiller problem's knocked everything else out of my head; don't want to lose the cargo, ya know."

"No you don't." She smiled, apparently pleased to have helped us in some way.

And that was that.

Heero picked out crackers and beer, Duo a few dried fruits and a finger's width of excellent cheese, Trowa peeled away from his old trader acquaintance, and then they hastily left.

"Dere hangs a filthy Nord'ern slothfulness 'round dis place."

"Agreed. We must leave immediately to avoid the guards."

It was not till they were in sight of the river that the patrol boat ghosted past the docks, just as the attendant had warned them; it was the day for it to check for official passes giving clearance to visit the northern ports or temporary freight orders.

Not having either, the three young men skirted the shadows until they located Heero's flatboat.

"As luck would have it," Duo muttered, "we'd pick today to go spying."

"I don't think the guard'll be searching the deserted boats at this end," Heero said, ignoring Duo's crabbing. He was just glad they'd taken the time to conceal the boat well.

"De best place fo' us is to lay low a while on de boat," Trowa said in agreement.

Not that any of them wanted to remain in the dreary, bedraggled little town, but they had no choice until the patrol left.

"Another delay," Duo said.

"We'll report our findings to Zechs as soon as we can," Heero said, his jaw tight. His leg was aching, muscles unused to the wear and tear he'd been infliction on himself, and making his temper short. Duo, he thought, hadn't any excuse and should stop his complaining.

Trowa slit peepholes in the oilcloth and took first watch. "Sleep if you can. I'll let you know w'en we can leave."

Unfortunately, before Duo or Heero could settle in, they heard the most awful wail and splashing. Not far off, they observed a keelhauling taking place aboard a ship of hard looking men. One man had been tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel and he had been thrown overboard.

"I didn't think that kind of thing was still being done," Duo said.

Keelhauling was a severe form of corporal punishment meted out to sailors, but once the ships were close to a town usually any malefactors were abandoned to land jails.

The man's hollers were silenced as his body was dragged under the ship's keep to the other side. As the hull was covered in sharp barnacles, they guessed the man would be covered in cuts.

"If dey pull fast, he'll be hurt, but if dey pull too slow, he'll drown."

"Devine, huh?" Duo grunted. "Town's more of a Hell-hole than divine. It's like an ugly grey wart on a beautiful hillside."

"Hn." Heero winced, taking the weight off his leg and closed his eyes. He hadn't meant to, but he needed rest, whether he wanted it or not. This time, he thought his lover couldn't ignore the signs, and before he could deny his weakness Duo was settling him in the cabin with blankets. He remembered Duo cuddling close and a kiss.

When Heero woke up, Trowa was moving under the oilcloth, returning the canoe to its place. "Checked on de patrol," the soft voice said. "It's gone."

Duo's fingers were tracing a pattern over his chest. "Hey, babe. Time to go."

As Trowa pulled off the oilcloth, Heero could see that it was nearly dark out, but only a few moments before sun set when the rare winter sun split trough a crack between mountains, reflecting in glancing blows across the water, rippled by the wind, and streaming onto the flatboat and glinting off the auburn flecks in his lover's dark hair. He was sitting on a pile of blankets fully dressed.

"All right." Heero smiled at his lover and stood. "Give me a hand on deck?"

"Hey, I gave you my heart, a hand's nothing, heh, heh—"

"C'mon, idiot," Heero teased.

He felt much better and by the time he was fully awake, standing on his boat pole in hand and with Duo at the steerage. Trowa took point, staring into the dark ahead, poking with a pole to verify their position, test the water's depth, and break up ice crystallizing over the still or slow moving surface.

They met no other vessels that night. No animals of the night crossed their path, and the further south they went, the fairer the weather, less ice, and the safer they felt. Ten miles out of Sublimity as the sky lightened with the first signs of dawn, they were met by their first boats.

"Who's dat, do you suppose?" Trowa muttered, his sleep-deprived voice sounding ragged.

"H-huh?" Duo shook himself alert and squinted ahead.

Heero saw dark shapes looming out of the mist trying to recall when he'd last seen his pistol. "Enemy-- here?"

"Hey-ya, ho—hoo!" The hailing crew made themselves known.

Trowa's grim expression lightened with a slight up curve at the corner of his mouth. "Maguancs." He waved his arms over head. "Quatre must have sent them out looking for us." In an uncharacteristically loud voice he returned the call, "Hee-ya!"

The two stubby, comical-looking boats materialized, fleshing out as they closed in, and revealing the Winner company logo from sagging banners draped about the sides. A great mountain of a man stood at the helm of one boat.

"That's gotta be Rashid," Duo said.

"Oh, yeah. Dat be da man."

Rashid waved and hollered back, "It's the Master's daring bare-back rider!"

Trowa's face darkened so fast with what had to have been a blush and he choked back any words he'd been about to say. Duo let out a snort and then began to laugh so hard he couldn't steer. Heero dropped the pole and laughed too. Had Rashid really meant that to sound the way it had come out?

The Maguanacs seemed oblivious. Heero guessed they thought the laughter was all just relief at being home again, which was fine. Duo, he knew, would find a way to tease their friend about it later.

Within an hour, Heero found himself feet up on a soft couch at Winner's Watergardens estate, a delicious-tasting hot mug of cheer in his hands to ward off the chill, and his friends, minus Chang and adding Zechs, gathered close to discuss what they'd discovered. Merquise had already rushed to send orders to attack the base and returned to pace the room and tug at his chin.

The man appeared more troubled than usual, and Heero thought Duo noticed it, too, but instead of leaving the man his privacy, his curious boyfriend just blurted out, "The base was just where you thought it would be, but no bigger than expected, so what's bothering you so much?" Duo asked.

Zechs looked irritated enough to walk out of the room, and then Quatre added to the tension, much to Heero's surprise.

"It's Lucrezia Noin," Quatre said. "Don't look at me that way, Zechs. You know you can trust everyone here."

"It's rather personal." The troubled man stood and moved away to gaze out the window into the grey rain.

"Yeah," Duo said, "nothing worse than girl trouble at a time like this. What she do? Give you THE ultimatum?"

Zechs' lip quivered. Heero had no doubt the man was holding back several biting remarks. He stepped in to stop the blow he thought was surely to be delivered to his mouthy lover's head.

"That's the least of his problems," Quatre said airily.

"Winner—" Zechs growled.

"Merquise—" Quatre said mimicking the tone.

"It's nobody's business but my own."

Quatre shook his head. "I disagree. It involves the success of this venture of ours." He paused a moment, but Zechs said nothing, so he went on to say, "Zechs' problems with Miss Noin has to do with divided loyalties. She must decide to take orders from him and cross Treize or not, which I'd assume would mean turning him in for treachery."

"Why's Noin so tied up with Khushrenada?" Duo asked.

"Why you were spying up north," Wufei answered. "Hilde and I uncovered a little more information. It seems that when Noin's family destroyed the Catalonia bridge, she was put under contract to Treize."

"To pay off the family debt," Zechs said. "A minor thing, but she is an honorable woman. Treize assigned her to my command, where she's been an excellent lieutenant."

"But when you directly attack Khushrenada, you place her in an awkward position," Quatre said to him.

Heero watched the two men hold a stare-down contest. Duo didn't. He jumped right into the fray as if he'd been burning for a fight for days, and maybe he had. Heero knew the guy needed to let off some steam and they hadn't shared a truly private intimate period of time together for some while.

"So I was right!"

Zechs turned his head so fast his hair whipped Trowa in the face. "What was that?"

"Gah-damned mane. Put it in a braid like Duo," Trowa grumbled, completely ignored by everyone except Winner, who pulled him onto his lap with a whispered, "Brilliant, dear," comment.

Zechs was in Duo's face and Heero wound an arm over his lover's shoulders to mark his loyalties. "What do you mean?"

"Look I don't claim to be an expert with boy-girl romances or anything, but I do know how women's minds work being 'round Hilde for so long."

"What has any of that got to do with--?"

"I'm getting there. Jeesh! Noin's got it bad for you, that much is obvious. I mean everyone can see by the way she follows you around, tongue hanging out—"

Zechs dropped his foot from the footstool to the wood floor with a loud thump. "Don't be ridiculous!"

"Duo's confusing Noin with Zechs' watchdog," Quatre whispered into Trowa's ear.

"Non, _mon ami_, not if Noin is a bitch."

Heero wondered how Zechs kept his composure. He had to have overheard their whisperings, but his eyes remained glued to Duo's.

"Listen, Zechs, I know you're pretty smart and all, but you're missing all the clues here. Noin's bonkers over you and figures she's not getting any younger, ya know? How long's she been waiting for you to make some kinda move, eh?"

"I'm her superior officer! I can't make a _move_, as you call it, on her, you blathering idiot."

Duo's grin widened but Heero felt his shoulders tighten at the insult, his eyes, if Heero could see them, must have been flashing.

"I'm sure you can work around the rules, if you want. She knows you can. Her dithering between you and the big bad "TK" (he pronounced it like "tick", the blood-sucking insect) is all a ploy, don'tcha see?"

"No—"

"Yeah, ya do. She can't just go and ask YOU to marry her. That's not cool. She's calling your bluff. I'll bet you my house—"

"It's mine too!" Heero reminded him. _Don't gamble our home away!_

"Don't worry, 'Ro, I'm so right about this," Duo remarked and then pursued his train of thought again. "I'll betcha anything you want that if you ask her to get hitched, she'd jump at that so fast you'll be walking—"

"—de plank—"

"UP the aisle in your next breath, if you get my drift." Duo rested his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side.

Heero took the opportunity to nuzzle into his hair and nibble at an ear, all the while keeping a wary eye on the other man opposite them. He wondered if Zechs even noticed how hard Duo had been working to get the "L2" slang out of his speech.

"You expect me to buy her loyalty with a promise of marriage?" Zechs spat out.

"Me? What does it matter what I expect? She's the one that is expecting to hear wedding bells. Once she's secured you, ole Tick'll be tossed out with the bath water faster than—"

Zechs cut him off. "And you are willing to bet anything on this outrageous supposition?"

Not I. "We'll bet our flatboat she accepts your offer and vows fealty to you and you alone," Heero answered.

"You really believe what he's saying?" Zechs asked, astonished. "You must. That boat is your livelihood and the most important thing you own. All right, I'll take that bet but I don't want the boat. I want the two of you to serve in my fleet for one year, under my orders, if you are wrong."

"What about you?" Duo asked. "What if we're right? What do you bet?"

"If you are right then I lose my bachelorhood, don't I. Isn't that enough?" Zechs smiled at this.

Heero didn't think he would mind losing the bet at all, actually, but acquiesced. "Agreed."

"Good. I don't mean to be rude." Winner stood with an arm firmly around his lover's waist. "But, Trowa and I need some time to reacquaint ourselves." He smiled. "You all know where to find rooms?"

"God, yes," Duo said. "Don't bother calling for servants at this hour."

"I'm off, then to see to my troops. The bridge is in place, Howard's nearly ready." His face looked drawn with concerns and weighted with responsibilities. "The next time we all meet we'll most likely be at war."

"If that ship Deathscythe's all it's cracked up to be, then it'll be a short one." Duo sounded plucky again. Which could only mean one thing—time to find a room.

He felt Duo rearrange arms to take on some of his weight, and after saying goodbye, was lifted off his feet. "Hey!"

"Hang on! I want you to have enough energy left for what I have in mind."

With Duo's words ringing in his ears, Heero could barely hear his other friends muffled laughter fading into the distance. He was about to demand Duo put him down, when he heard Trowa yelling for the same respect and decided to go along with act. From what he could hear before the door slammed shut, Winner won the round, too.

Heero put up a half-hearted attempt at topping his hot-blooded friend, but Duo's determination surpassed his many-fold. He submitted to the burning kisses, the smoldering gaze from the half-lidded, lust-filled eyes of the man astride him totally overpowered him. Why not surrender and yield complete control over to those ministrations?

"You are delectable." At least, he thought Duo said something to that effect before the fiery ring of his lips soldered to his erection, sucking, and fingers wormed into his gut and pistoned a fast and hard rhythm, stroking, massaging, until Heero knew he was ablaze and burst apart with a scream.

Silenced by a press of firm lips and the thrust of muscular tongue, fingers replaced by a larger, thicker, wet, hot poker—he could only raise his hips and meet his lover's driving beat with his own all-consuming thrusts. His body took over. With his lips unsealed he cried out, "D-duo!" and sent his lover to the brink.

"Ugh! Ah!" was what he heard in reply before he felt the short, hard spasms, harsh breath cries of "Yes!" A great weight pressed him into the mattress, a rope of hair slithered over his face, and his lover covered him with his body. "Love you so much."

Heero could only agree, "Yes," because he did but he was near exhaustion.

Duo rolled off with a sigh.

"Me, too. Now sleep."

"Ummmm." Duo was asleep before he finished his thought. Happy, sated, complete, and dead to the world for the next eight hours. Tomorrow he'd be home, sleeping in his own bed with the promise of a long hot soak in the tub, his dog, his cat, his own home-cooked meal. Oh, he'd be training to operate his new craft, _Deathscythe_, too.

It was all good. A good life. Sublime to be sure.

* * *

End Chapter 29


	30. Chapter 30

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Thirty**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, language, rated for male x male sexual situations; THIS IS A LONG CHAPTER

A/N: thanks for beta reading goes to Waterlily, who, along with Snowdragon, I'm most grateful to for support and encouragement.

* * *

(We start with Duo's POV and then visit everyone briefly)

Stalking up the river came white wraiths. With imagination sufficient one could think them lost souls wandering in the dusk. Wufei wiped moisture clinging from his nose. "The central Rogue River basin in winter is notorious for its fogs."

Duo blinked away droplets collecting on his long lashes, looking at his friend as if he'd grown a third head. _Well,_ _duh_.

"We don't need this. This fog is beastly," Quatre said, ending with a pronounced shiver.

"Fog _sucks _like… _royally_." Duo thought his statement summed up the situation with pithy accuracy.

"Fuckpit—_c'est_ _craint_," muttered the taciturn Cajun.

And from his closed-lipped boyfriend he heard even less. "Hn."

So much for precision.

So much for succinctness.

"Too bad we hadn't gone out yesterday," Duo said.

(o)

The day before had been clear and fine. A rare day. They'd hoped for more of that to follow. All the other ships had set out the day before, spreading out along the Rogue and taking up positions both to attack and defend. It had been a grand parade.

The team watched aboard the Deathscythe as the fleet exited the Winner shipyards. To their left and right were amassed the small Oliphants, belonging to the Maguanac Corps, used primarily for homeland defense, their powerful motors good for skimming over the river short distances with incredible speed and their multiple cannons and Gatling guns ready to bombard enemy attackers.

"Most of those will stay here, but others will accompany the Mag-units which will guard all the coastline of Sublimity," Quatre told them.

"Near Zechs' outposts?" Heero asked.

"And your home, and the Watergardens." Quatre smiled. "Not to mention the town's dockyards."

"And Merquise's bridge," Wufei put in, "I imagine you have sentries on it too."

"Yes. Here's comes Rashid on _Mag-unit 01_."

"Howard's been busy churning out steam engines and outfitting every ship around," Heero pointed out. "I haven't seen these in action."

A low "hoot" signaled _Mag-unit 01's_ arrival. As it drew closer Duo could make out its pilot, the overall commander of the Corps, Rashid Kurama, saluting from the ship's bridge.

"Has he grown?" Duo asked.

"No, he's just wearing stylized shoulder armor," Quatre said. "See the crest on the side? It inspired the design on the Sandrock."

"Very smart," Trowa purred, but he wasn't being serious, Duo could tell, although he actually did like the winged cobra Maguanac Corps' symbol on the crest.

Dozens of the gunboats streamed from the channel, spreading over the river. There was _Mag-unit 10_, the ship of unit commander Ahmad, recognizable by his long dark cloak, currently hanging limp in the wet, heavy air. _Mag-unit 22_ was a high mobility ship carrying unit commander Abdul wearing a turban and a massive gun he called a "bazooka" over his shoulder.

Quatre waved as another ship sped past, sporting a huge, armored claw extending from the bow.

"What's that thing?" Duo asked. "That claw looks like it could rip a hole through a ship."

"It can, even if the ship is armored. That's unit commander Auda's craft. You can tell by the large, red 'ponytail' trailing from his helmet."

"Like I'd notice that."

"There's mine! _Sandrock_!" Duo could hear the excitement in Quatre's voice.

_Sandrock_ bore the strongest armor of the five lead attack ships. It also had a powerful claw weapon to crush the thickest armor in a single attack and a heavy load of armaments.

While they all oohed and awed the sleek armor, Trowa's fighting ship, _Heavyarms_, steamed past. _ Heavyarms'_ primary focus was ranged combat, and carried an incredible amount of firepower for a single ship. Cannons and twin-mounted rapid-fire guns sprouted from it like spines on a porcupine.

Duo pointed out the white-painted armor marking Heero's ship, _Wing_, considered the premier ship in overall utility. Though most of its weapons were relatively standard, relying on its side-mounted guns for close-range combat, it boasted incredible speed and was highly maneuverable; with its primary weapon a buster rifle and an immensely powerful combination cannon-flame thrower weapon, capable of taking out a battleship in a single shot, but which could be fired only three times before requiring recharging. The name came from the four angelic wings which could open and act as shields in combat.

"And we're not on our fighting ships now… because?" Heero asked.

"Aw, you are no fun, 'Ro. Quatre wanted a little good luck send off and Howard suggested we have it on _Deathscythe_ 'cause it was the first built."

More ships chugged past; many manned by Howard's trusted men or trained riverboat pilots under either Noin or Zechs. No one had heard news of any wedding bells in Zechs future, but it seemed he'd managed to coerce his lieutenant to side with his leadership and betray the governor.

"No drinking," Heero warned him. "We must be in top condition tomorrow. We may meet the enemy at any time."

"We might, but then we've been training for days now. I can pilot this boat in the dark and blow up the enemy with both arms tied behind my back."

"Don't put any ideas in Yuy's head," Trowa warned.

"Oh, I can't envision that's a new situation for him," Quatre said, laughing. "I've seen Heero tie rope with great imagination," adding, "and I know you have some wonderful rope tricks yourself."

Duo had never seen his Cajun friend blush so bright and so fast. _Kinky rope trick then_, it made him wonder.

(o)

But that had been the day before. Today, the weather had gone afoul. In winter the southern end of the Rogue River basin was at its best; few insects as the swamps receded and the swamps dried up. Fish streaming to escape the ice flows were drawn to the warmer water, and "de eatin' o' dem was good." From Trowa's descriptions of the food alone, Duo wished they were headed there.

"Why aren't we going there? I wanna eat 'crawfish'!"

"The war's in the other direction," was Wufei's ready retort.

"All the more reason—" said with a smile.

Less attractive was the direction the three men were headed. The northern end became dangerous with floating ice, sharp enough to damage hulls, and hazardous with boatmen failing to traverse it with numb hands. By mid winter, flatboats outfitted with iron "noses" acted as icebreakers, the few that dared to move freight there. Heero had said he didn't think the cold had set in yet and refused to add the heavy armor. He hoped to move quickly with less weight and break at any floating ice with their poles.

"Haven't we had enough of the cold and that nasty Devine place to last into the eternal wasteland of the future?" Duo asked.

"I have." Heero said. He hadn't quite used the placating tone Quatre had perfected and that he knew Duo hated. He attempted to sound supportive, and in return, Duo presented him with a warm smile. It was too public for a kiss, he thought.

"I should hope to avoid a trip north and a battle here as well. It's my wish that Zech's troops take out the Devine shipyard before Treize launches his assault," Wufei said. "And soon."

"Treize will order his fleet out from Vulkanus before the channels to the Rogue became ice-locked." Quatre repeated his prediction with one key word of change, catching Duo's attention.

"Vulkanus. Whatta lame name." Duo had been amused by the name given to the ship production plant he and his friends had risked life and limb to confirm.

"Vulcan," Wufei had informed them, "was identified with the ancient Greek god of fire and smithery. Apt name for a steam engine manufacturing plant, I'd say."

_Apt, yeah_. "And Scorpio? Another screwball name."

While skirting around the shipyard, Trowa had recorded ship names, like the heavily armored "Scorpio."

"Scorpio is an astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Scorpius." Wufei told them. "It is considered a water sign."

"Well, if they stick a gun on the tail, I'll call that name further 'apt', too."

Duo noticed Trowa's mouth twitch into a near-smile. He'd made a joke of the term "abaft", meaning toward or at the stern of a ship; further aft, which sounded close to "apt" for the purposes of his joke.

"Wish I'd stuck a gun to dat Tsubarov's ass," Trowa said, nodding. While spying around the enemy's shipyard, he'd uncovered telltale signs of their old nemesis, Chief Engineer Tsubarov. Apparently, the man had moved from his old laboratory to there. "Too bad, I hadn't taken out dat man when I'd had de chance at de governor's mansion."

"Hn," Heero grunted automatically. He seemed inattentive, so Duo followed Heero's gaze and spotted a small courier boat heading their way.

Quatre sighed hugely. "By now, Zechs and the rest of his men must have engaged the units guarding Vulcanus. The attack has already begun."

"No can tell from here." Wufei sniffed the air. He claimed he could smell the difference between a cold front coming from the north from a wet southern one. "We must guess. Getting information is going to get spottier, what with the poor weather hitting us."

Duo looked again at Wufei, who'd said that and had nearly vanished from sight in the growing mist. This time did say aloud, "Well, duh."

"I can't wait to board my ship. _Nataku_ is the fighting dragon of the Long clan."

"You mean _Shenlong_," Heero corrected him. "By the way, Quatre, one of your men is signaling you from their boat."

"I see him."

_Shenlong_ had extendable "dragon fang" high-power flamethrowers designed to melt the armor of enemy ships with ease, making its close combat abilities unparalleled. Wufei made no secret that he admired the design exceedingly.

"It will always be _Nataku_!" Chang insisted.

"Well, Wu-baby," Duo said clipping the slicked back top of Chang's head with the edge of his hand, "You all get to be guests on my boat until the view improves. And it's cool."

Howard had tuned _Deathscythe_ to specialize in high-speed combat, installing dual rotors to give it the highest mobility of the five gunships. Its covert weapon was a high-output drill, which Duo called "the scythe," for damaging armored hulls. Other armaments, machine cannons and guns, could be fired at enemies as well.

"Master Winner!" One of the younger Maguanacs climbed aboard and dashed across the deck waving an arm. "A messenger runner has brought word from Colonel Zechs."

"Tell us!" Wufei ordered at once.

Quatre added, "Please--"

"His troops did not destroy the ship production plant; they never reached it! Khushrenada's engaged them inland of Tumult."

Heero growled. "Grrr, the idiots! I told them to go the river route not over land."

"I knew we shoulda blasted the hell outta that place when we found it!" Duo shouted.

"If I'd killed dat inventor—" Trowa groaned then stopped, giving his lover a hard look. "Now, don't you get started—"

Duo knew why, too. When it came to the "blame game", no one could beat Quatre's insistent "I'm sorry!" lines.

"You were right, _all_ right," Quatre said. "We must stop blaming ourselves and take the lead. From now on we're going with our own plans."

"I want Dekim Barton's gang, if they show up," Heero said.

"You and Duo watch out for him," Quatre agreed. Duo could almost see new and devious strategies formulating behind that delicate-looking, blond-covered skull. "But you must do that while you and Wufei establish a blockade north of Sublimity. The enemy must not get past the bridge! Wufei?"

"The bridge." Wufei was staring in the direction of Sublimity, completely blinded by the blanket of white mist.

"Yes, you remain near the bridge and Sublimity."

"Protect Hilde and the city? Of course. But what about you and Trowa?" Wufei asked.

"All by itself, Trowa's ship has enough weapons to single-handedly destroy an enemy base, which is why he and I shall break though the battle line, head north, and take out Vulkanus."

"Dat's good." Trowa nodded in agreement. "In that case, I have a message to get to our native friend in de circus. De chief can fire up some trouble on de far side o'de river."

The friends continued to fine-tune their plans, including Howard and his Sweepers and the Maguanac Corps, but when they were ready to set out, each to his own ship, it was too late. _Deathscythe_ was embodied in a thick clammy cloud and couldn't navigate the river if the pilots couldn't see. They sought the bank, the anchor was let loose, and there it stayed. On board, its little bundle of humanity hid on the river, "in the far mysterious direction that lies directly to the left of somebody facing the rising sun," Wufei said, explaining what an ancient Chinese poet called the north direction.

They remained hunkered down till morning broke and the sun swallowed the mist. Wufei was the first to jump ship, take a ride to his _Nataku _on a passing Mag-boat. Quatre and Trowa said their goodbyes next, leaving together, but then parting upstream moving on to their individual ships.

"There's _Wing_." Heero's eyes sparkled and his smile set.

"Take care. Promise?" Duo nudged his best friend in the entire universe.

The smile dropped and Duo felt strong arms sweep him off his feet as Heero hugged him one last time. "Only if you do."

Duo nodded and then felt the chill again as Heero released him. "Leave some for me!" Duo shouted at the receding back.

Then the _Deathscythe_ moved on heading northwards, leaving each man set to pilot his own crew in battle.

(o)

Heero, Duo, and Wufei led the fleet with Trowa, Quatre, and Howard right behind. The Maguanacs had scouts ahead, while others scattered up and down the river for miles. They had passed the bridge through the only opening large enough for ships their size to fit through. Heero noted Noin hadn't left, that she must have resolved her loyalty differences, and he hadn't heard of any wedding announcement. What had happened between her and Zechs, he wondered?

Whatever it was, she was here now and in charge of the bridge, her people lining the supported spans and the bulk clustered on land on either side. Sweepers closed the gap with an old, gnarled-wood barge armored iron like the ships and loaded with explosives.

The battle plan called for a pincer movement to trap the enemy, so Heero steered to the left side of the river, Duo to the right, Wufei kept to the center with the Sweepers filling in-between. Trowa and Quatre were to shoot up the sides with the Maguanacs closing off any retreat and then take off upstream to destroy Vulcanus and rescue Zechs' troops. At least-- God, Heero hoped Zechs would eventually make it to the enemy shipyard. Trowa and Quatre were prepared for a naval assault and could not suddenly become overland troops.

"Ahoy! Leos to the port side just around the curve."

"Around the curve" was a mile north of Sublimity where men of the town had in the days prior to the battle pulled together with the owner of the saw mill and downed many trees, dragged them to the shore, chained them together, and pitched them into the river. Boat men from Tumbletown had hooked onto the timber and pulled the "chain" taut across the river, fastening it to the far shoreline with pegs, pounded into the rocks. This would be the first barricade the enemy would encounter.

The Maguanacs' warning was all they got. Weeks of training, hours of waiting, and now it was to begin in the bright, morning, midwinter sun.

Eight sturdy-looking ships, painted a drab olive-green churned into view. This fleet consisted of side-wheelers remodeled, like Howard's stern-wheelers, and covered with iron about two inches thick. The redesign appeared just as complete, with wheel house, rudder, an installed steam engine, and all outfitted as gunboats.

These slowed, then spread apart when they reached the log jam, and, to everyone's dismay, more of the enemy fleet arrived-- three more boats and as many transports, four big flatboats about fifty feet long and twenty wide. Each flatboat had an upright portable steam boiler which furnished power to run two saws, one on each forward corner of the boat.

"Now that's something I hadn't thought of," Howard said. "Portable saws."

Steamboat engines required wood and lots of it to run and so did some of the fancy weaponry. The Winner ships all stored wood on board and had to stop, cut more, then haul it onboard. Howard planned to capture one of those transports for his own use, maybe all of them, if he could keep Maxwell from blowing them all up.

They were already breaking the law by having cut the government-protected Sanc Red Oak. The hard, high-energy producing wood was the preferred fuel, but had been declared a "property of the kingdom" by Duke Dermail. Well, Howard would spit in the eye of that law if it meant winning the battles. His warships loaded on the timbers to burn when requiring extra speed or for powering the weaponry. But the oak was heavy, more payload to weigh down the ships. He really wanted those transports.

He drew the _Peacecraft_ alongside _Deathscythe_ to convey his plans to his past employee. Duo grasped the concept quickly and the race was on to seize the portable saw transports.

The enemy had been at work for some time, it appeared, breaking the log jam. The saws were about eight feet long and on rotating necks so that large trees could be sawed off eight or ten feet below the surface of the water, or, as in this case, the barricade could be cut clean through then the trunks of the trees were sawed up and dragged out of the way by steam tugs. It was about two and a half miles across the point and those human beavers were about to cut through.

Duo pointed out a long hose connecting the saws with the boilers.

"That'll take some fancy shooting to cut the hose and miss the boiler," Howard warned.

Duo knew just who to entrust that to and ran to the pilot's seat to signal _Wing _to come closer. Duo leaped from his ship to Heero's, barely clearing the distance.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked.

"Howie wants the boats with saws and he wants them in working order for our use. Can you clip just the hose?" Duo pointed out the boiler/saw system and the danger of hitting the wrong part. "I'm just not that accurate, but I know you are."

"You put a lot of faith in me, Duo. I hope to live up to it."

So did Howard as he watched the dark-haired gunman take aim. He could see the crest on the Leo ships, a lion, then heard the crack of a rifle. Then another. And another. Heero took out the hoses, silencing the saws, but the log jam had been breached and now the enemy was on the move and firing back from their own rifles. Howard could see one enemy Leo turning to line up its cannon.

Flaming lances shot out from the _Deathscythe,_ setting the mostly wooden, unshielded deck on fire. Enemy troops made an all-out effort to extinguish the flames, leaving the cannon unmanned and their other offensive weapons ignored.

Howard ordered his ship to move in and called one of the Mag-units to help him retrieve the transports. Over the roar of artillery, he heard Wufei's war cry and then the screech of metal tearing as the "dragon fang" melted the armor of an enemy ship and ripped a hole in the side.

And for a moment it seemed all hell broke loose.

The Sweepers, experienced at fighting brigands and pirates, forced the enemy to fall back, retreating into the waiting arms of the Mag-units , _Heavyarms_, and _Sandrock_. Howard was extremely pleased with his ships and how his boys worked as a team. Their superiority had taken its toll, the enemy had been slowed, and victory was in sight, if more Northern reinforcements never came.

He signaled the Winner lad, "Go now!" and received back "Good luck!"

Yes, they'd all need a bit of luck, but Howard felt it would be those fighters heading toward the Vulkanus base who would need it the most.

(o)

Heero felt good, blood pumping, the smell of smoke, and he had an old enemy in his sights.

Years ago, Dekim Barton had wanted to eliminate the man standing in his way, blocking the next step in his rise to power, General Septum. He'd hired Odin Lowe to assassinate the man. Heero remembered being handed his gun and instructed to enter the room "no one will be expecting a child to pull the trigger." It had been his first "job" and he'd "botched it," as Duo would say. Guards had spotted the gun barrel and deflected the shot. Heero had gotten away, but he had failed his father.

"It's all right. You'll have many more chances," Odin had said, consoling him.

_But you didn't_, Heero thought to himself, remembering how a very few years later Dekim took his revenge and sent his gang to kill Odin and kill or conscript his men. All but two—Heero and the man who'd helped them at the governor's mansion, Michael Planter. He was sure Planter had been executed for his kindness and felt bad all over again.

_How many times had the errors of their past come back to bite them in the ass? At least one more time, _Heero answered his own question, because there was General Septum's gun boat.

(o)

Heavyarms and Sandrock led the small entourage of Maguanac steamers north, travelling from the first battle near Sublimity to just south of Tumult. Early on, the beautiful sun fell behind a curtain of rain which tuned to sleet, lowering visibility. Heavyarms struck a rock and knocked a hole back of her bow. They ran her to shore and put their pumps to work. While they kept her up, Trowa and Abdul completed their repairs.

In the meantime, Quatre and Ahmad stopped to chop wood. While wooding, one of Mag-unit 22's paddles on the wheel broke.

Worried about piling on more delay, Quatre asked. "Will it still work if it's left that way?"

"One broken paddle?" Abdul mused. "I must check." After consulting with the other crew members he came back with an answer. "Left that way will reduce the ship's speed to about 3 miles an hour and the pilot, he says he can steer only 'by keeping the helm hard a-starboard,' by which he means he must compensate for the broken paddle wheel by keeping the rudder to starboard. Don't worry, master, we can shoot at a distance and won't need the maneuverability."

What they all missed, crowded along one shore of the river repairing their boats or chopping wood, was Barton's fleet, whisking by under low power on the downstream current and shrouded by the capricious weather. Missed the boats passing entirely. After that inauspicious start to their trip, the team managed to get under way and drove upstream the remainder of the morning and into the late afternoon.

(o)

Originally designed as a successor to the Leo, by order of Treize Khushrenada, the _Serpent_ was mothballed following Tsubarov's escape from the governor's house. He sold off the rights to the plans to the Barton gang, where they were modified and put into use by his new Mariemaia Army. Barton's dreams were growing. Why support a dead weight like Khushrenada when he could go for the Duke himself and rule the kingdom?

While the details remain vague, it has been said that the original _Serpent_ was intended as a more general purpose machine, carrying small arms. In Barton's hands, the machine was refined into a heavy assault unit, partly inspired by the _Heavyarms_, whose designs spies had stolen shortly before begin discovered and put to death. Like Heavyarms, the _Serpent_ carried heavy weapons including Gatling guns, bazookas, and cannons. The _Serpent_s used by the Mariemaia Army are armored with Neo-iron, a new alloy said to be much stronger and lighter than standard iron.

Dekim Barton had wanted to place cannon ashore to fire upon Sublimity and move his ships further downstream and shell the hell out of the bridge preventing the steamboats' progress further south. And while he was at it, he would indulge himself and destroy all of Tumbletown. Wipe out all memory of Heero Yuy and Odin Lowe.

(o)

To Wufei's surprise, he enjoyed shooting. Shooting birds for dinner out of necessity and now shooting at enemy ships, poking holes into them, finding the weak links, the chink in the armor. Right now, he hammered at the back of one boat, where he saw boxes of ammunition.

"One more inch—"

The explosion started at the top, setting off the stack in a chain reaction. The air filled with the roar of strikes and fire. Wood stores crackled and smoldered as sparks flew. The raw recruits unprepared for the noise, the danger, and hell on board ran in panic. Fires on board required more than buckets to put out. Hand pumps required manpower and took away gunmen from the fight.

What Wufei saw was terrible. Boys like ones he'd taught in school. And they were about to die. And he was responsible! Out of the corner of his eye he spotted one of the Maguanacs boats. He ran to the edge of the boat and shouted.

"_Mag-unit_ 05! Turn about and close in on that ship. Close! Within a few meters then turn hard and—"

"Put out the fire? Yes, very good."

And Wufei maneuvered his ship into a new position, drawing a bead on his target, the engine, and blasted away. The steam engine blew apart, sending parts flying and he hoped no children were burned by the boiling water.

"Surrender!" he shouted to the ship's captain all the while bearing down on him with cannons directed at his ship. _C'mon, give up and save yourself._

The captain raised a white flag and Wufei drew a deep breath. Balance. He had to find his balance in this insanity.

He heard the battle cries from _Wing_ nearby. Septum's boat groaned. It was in trouble. Then and only then did he recognize a face aboard the ship. The man coming from the cabin was Treize Khushrenada. He had to get word to Noin on the bridge, and frantically called out for another Maguanac messenger boat.

(o)

Duo unleashed a ferocious attack, the roar from the depths as cannon balls missed and pummeled the river, and the hits wreaking havoc seemed to fill him with excitement. Wufei'd had Chinese explosives delivered, including flares for signals and which could create blinding lights to distract the enemy, and Duo had figured out how to take them apart and make many, many more of them. He'd worked with Howard, fixing up a catapult with a hydraulic fluid plunger and levers and pulleys to rocket off his freshly-made explosives in a sweep of merciless fire. With artillery under his thumbs, Duo never let up.

His personal arms, his revolvers, always in trim, ready to take the fighting up close and personal. God! How he loved this chaos under his control!

(o)

Heero hammered relentlessly upon General Septum's gun boat. A deadly stream of lead tore through the armor. All around him, a squadron of fighters on smaller boats joined up and sped at him in a frantic clash. They were man-powered, armed with repeat-firing rifles, and loaded down with explosives, but not nearly as effective as Duo's Chinese-based ones. He imagined how much better this battle would have gone if Zechs had established anti-attack batteries shooting projectiles from land garrisons supported by a fleet of Howard's ships, like _Wing_, cruising the waterways keeping the enemy at bay.

Another gunboat. Blam! A direct hit slams into the side.

He watched as Duo lobbed another device onto a passing boat, which sailed on unaware that it was a ticking time bomb. Torn up boats slid into the water and disappeared. _Wing _reeled, hit by a wall of enemy fire.

_How dare they?_

He turned on the enemy ship and nailed it repeatedly until it was blown to pieces.

Wave after wave, the killing seemed to go on for hours.

Septum's ship regained power, bearing down on _Wing_, and Heero prepared for the sting of enemy hits. Then a miracle occurred. The enemy ship struck a submerged log and jammed the paddles. Another boat cut across his path, shielding Septum's ship. Heero took aim, smiling.

"Gottcha," he said, and blew open a hole in the side of the ship, through the armor and wood wide enough to sail a boat through. "_Sayanora_."

His joy was brief, because when the smoke cleared, he saw more ships in the distance, new ones, and they were flying the Mariemaria Army's flag.

_Not Barton, too!_

(o)

Although it had started out fine and sunny, by afternoon the day had turned bitterly cold, made ominous by the smoke of countless Indian fires on the south western horizon. That should have raised some suspicion in Dekim Barton's mind. Unsuspicious of danger and crowded with human freight the two ships swept swiftly along downstream.

An ambuscade was formed on the riverside opposite Sublimity and just north of Tumbletown, where the current of the river swept very near to the shore. A sudden flame leaped out from the bushes. Terror and confusion broke out; there were bleeding men and dead men on the crowded decks. For nearly an hour Barton's men fired blindly upon the bushes, because they could see no enemy. Every embankment and earthwork and every tree acted like an enemy's fortress, keeping the ships from landing. Barton's Scorpio fired and sought an opening.

A giant of a man riding bareback on a horseback swung an ace twice at the nearest tree, making two sharp reports very much like gun fire. His face paint glowed white and black striped with bold dashes of red and yellow and turned his visage into a gaudy mask. Great Eagle and on a horse at his side rode the red-haired Midi, AKA Ivy Shruggs. At his signal, tribesmen on lathered ponies broke the bushes, halting at river's edge, rifles raised and blasting away at the nearest ship.

(o)

Heero watched Barton order his pilot away from shore and towards the bridge, and then it appeared the mercenary leader noticed the blockader barge loaded with Sweepers and, too late, the Sweeper's metal-clad boat steamboat, _Peacemillion, _heading in his direction in full attack mode.

Yes, the ship was named _Peacemillion_ and not _Peacecraft_, because , as Duo had put it, "that name was just too stupid and over-the-top ironic for a bruiser of a battleship to be christened Peace-craft."

Howard's _Peacemillion_ rammed a smaller Barton gunboat, the _Libra,_ and succeeded in slicing off her bowsprit and most of her stern along with a kedge anchor and other incidentals, exposing the ship to a boarding party and foiling Barton's attempt to blow up the ship. He ended up taking the Barton-boat with a valuable cargo of rifles, salt, beef, paper and ammunition, plus dispatches invaluable to them.

Advance scouts, who Heero had guessed hailed from Noin's troops, had planted artillery on the rise of Tumbletown, near where he had once carved out an existence, and an artillery duel began with Barton's defenders on the river. He later discovered the men were led by Michael Planter, who besides himself was the only other of Odin Lowe's followers who had escaped Barton's murderous takeover 15 years earlier.

And Heero had just been ruminating back to those days and of that man.

Heero thought back at how he'd run into Planter unexpectedly at the governor's mansion. Planning the diversion to help them all escape, getting Ivy's cooperation, that had been Trowa and Quatre's handiwork. Letting down the guard and allowing entry to the two horsemen had taken most of the risk out of the plan, and the man, Planter, had done it all to gain Heero's forgiveness. And here he was, alive still and opposing Treize Khushrenada, fighting Dekim Barton. A man with a conscience— what a rarity and what luck!

Yes, if anything, luck had been with him all his life, and for that, Heero Yuy was very thankful.

(o)

"Dear Allah!" the murmur circled the Maguanacs boats.

"_Fortress Barge_," Rashid announced, emphasizing the direction. "To starboard."

It amused Quatre how his men, all born and raised for generations on the L4 deserts, embraced the water and the "seamen" terminology. His smile dropped when, there, materializing out of the mist was General Septum's base of operation. The monstrosity turned slowly with the grace of a floating garbage dump, and moved out in a southerly direction.

"The battle station was developed for use by Khushrenada's forces," Rashid told him. "I've heard rumors of frightening capabilities, the chief armament being a cannon, powerful enough to destroy a settlement."

"De vessel, she looks like a giant project no one bod'ered to complete."

Quatre agreed. "It does not look like a boat."

"It appears invincible, but nothing is invincible." Rashid looked over them with assurance. "I must return to my ship. We shall keep this one busy so you can take out the base."

Trowa brushed his lips across his lover's brow, sure no one was watching who hadn't seen worse. "Good luck, _mon cher_."

"Bye—" Quatre began, but Trowa was already gone, hopping down into his canoe, using it to ferry back and forth between _Sandrock_ and _Heavyarms_.

He watched as a small boat struck shore. Two brave men were to go inland to search for signs of the Merquise forces. If they were at the Vulkanus station, then Trowa wouldn't flatten it and a seize-and-rescue mission would be signaled. One flare for attack, two for rescue. But first, Quatre needed to buy the scout's time to run inland and conduct a search of the area.

_Mag-unit_ 01 returned fire with the _Fortress Barge_, while behind her, both gunboats, _Heavyarms _and_ Sandrock_, their stacks belching black pine knot smoke, steamed up the channel to engage the blockade _Scorpio_ ship. Heavyarms drew back, letting Sandrock challenge the enemy alone.

The _Scorpio_ ship Quatre encountered was an unusually large ship with strong armor designed for guarding the Vulkanus manufacturing facility. Unfortunately, General Septum had entrusted the blockade battleship to an arrogant and inefficient inebriant named Major O. M. Watkins, who remained intoxicated throughout the entire offshore battle.

As the slow steamers came within range, the _Scorpio'_s gun crew scored four direct hits on the leading _Sandrock_. _Sandrock_ bore the strongest armor of the five lead attack ships Howard had built. To protect the gun crews, he had installed a double wall of oak beams on the vessels and filled the interior space with hay or fur bales. He then mounted two 12-pounder smoothbore field guns and a single 64-pounder rifled cannon. On _Sandrock_, the armor was doubled on the bow as a counter weight to the rear-mounted "claw" weapon, which was currently disguised by a drapery of fishing net.

For artillerists, Quatre used members of Zechs' battalion unable to walk or ride due to injuries. Other units from volunteer brigand fighters and the recently expanded Sweeper's Regiment were assigned aboard all the vessels to serve as sharpshooters.

Soon the enemy's sharpshooting musketeers forced the _Sandrock_'s artillerists from the decks, and Quatre ordered his pilot to surrender. The _Scorpio_'s gunners then doubled as sailors to bring the captured _Sandrock_ into port. Only five men boarded the _Sandrock, _holding rifles on the pilot and the gunners, thanks to the poor judgment of Major Watkins.

Only one took notice of Quatre as he slid into the claw control seat. _Sandrock_ shook off the rope net and brought around its powerful claw weapon to crush the row of _Scorpio _cannons in a single blow. Quatre laughed. "Those offensive cannons should no longer work well in close combat situations."

His cannons were still operational and the men operating them understood it was time to engage the enemy seriously. Simultaneously, a single flare burned through the clouds. Quatre could count the thirty second reaction time and the additional seconds' delay before the pounding explosions from _Heavyarms' _long distance artillerypummeled the Vulkanus buildings.

(o)

Two flares lit the sky. A few seconds later, _Heavyarms_ was churning up the channel to support the _Sandrock's_ attack on _Scorpio_. By the time he reached Quatre, the _Scorpio_ had sunk and Merquise's ground troops were running over the shipyards.

When he met up with General Zechs Merquise, he explained how he had met a battalion of Khushrenada's troops heading to fortify the Vulkanus shipyard, which had slowed their progress, but had been defeated and retreated. After that, he wasted no more time and marched directly to Devine, only to arrive, after all, too late to stop the ships from leaving Vulkanus. Instead, he had prepared to engage Khushrenada's troops again, this time from a strong defensive position on the west bank. When Zechs had seen the smoke plumes, he knew the navy had come. He had gathered his troops for one more attack, breaking through, trouncing the enemy thoroughly. After that he had met up with the two Maguanacs and commanded them to stop the bombing of the shipbuilding plant, thus the two flares.

Quatre let Zechs' men take over the mop up activities but oversaw the handling of the dead and injured. With the help of the two Maguanacs, Zechs and Trowa located two undamaged ships, one clearly an older model, a prototype Leo class ship, with the name plate, _Tallgeese_. The ship was large, with little armor and lack of safety concerns in the boiler controls, but still combat-capable. The other was labeled _Epyon_, and marked as created by Treize Khushrenada. In keeping with Treize's philosophy, _Epyon _bore no "cowardly" long-range weapons in favor of "chivalrous" close combat ones. Since it had no projectile weapons, its main weapons were flame shooter and a powerful drill whose energy is supplied by a direct connection to the _Epyon's_ steam engine. The engine was an inferior design, though. None of them could fathom how the ship could move and operate the drill at the same time.

"It only has to get me as far as – what did you call the battleship?" Zechs asked.

Quatre replied, "_Fortress Barge._"

"It only has to get me that far."

The men traded around crews so that _Epyon_ and _Tallgeese_ were staffed minimally and all the ground troops had space on a boat. Zechs' plan called for them to make the enemy believe that _Heavyarms_ and _Sandrock _had been defeated and boarded by Khushrenada's forces and that now the ships _Epyon_ and _Tallgeese_ were leading the surrendered vessels to defeat the _Mag-units_ attacking the barge.

The plan sounded simple, it was, and it allowed Zechs to position _Epyon_ up against the _Fortress Barge_ and power-drill through the paddle wheel, where there was no armor, and directly up into the engine compartment. A single application of the flamethrower into the engine set off a series of explosions. Zechs barely had time to clear out before spitting fire blew from the barge.

He and his crew transferred from the inoperative _Epyon_ joining the troops aboard the _Tallgeese,_ and with his newly formed fleet of friends hung about to admire their handiwork, their clear and definitive defeat of the enemy, but only for a few minutes. They'd left their other comrades-in-arms mid firefight when only a small part of the enemy fleet had attacked. Since Trowa had seen the shipyards full of craft earlier on his reconnaissance trip with Heero and Duo, and now the docks were empty, except for _Epyon_ and _Tallgeese_, he surmised that they must have passed more enemy ships unseen in the storm. They had to hurry back and help the others.

The steamers hastily tossed on more wood and raised steam. _Sandrock_ with Quatre at the wheel, steamed down the Rogue under cover of fog and the waning light of the setting sun, closely followed by the _Heavyarms, Tallgeese,_and the Maguanacs ships. _Heavyarms _was taking on water slowly, _Sandrock_ still had the damaged paddle wheel, two of the _Mag-units_ showed damage, and _Tallgeese_ was a ponderous ship to maneuver, so when they arrived at a "v" in the river, there was a decision to make.

Trowa and Quatre entertained the other crews with one of their rare arguments.

"We must move fast," the Cajun insisted. "I'm fixin' to go by there."

"Over treacherous rapids?"

"_Mais qui, _my little worrywart_._ Dis way's too slow."

"Better safe than sorry."

"If we are too late, is it important dat our ships be intact, _n'est pas_?"

And Quatre's logic fell apart and he gave in. "You've gone this way before?"

"Yeah, and in winter it's not so _difficile_. I wouldn't suggest we all go dat way if I knew we couldn't do it. Heavyarms is in d'worst shape of all."

Quatre sighed, giving up.

"You know I don't always go wid de flow, righ'? Like my mama say, 'Always drink upstream from de herd.'"

"You were too young to remember your mother's advice," Quatre said. He smiled. "All right, Trowa. You win. I trust you to lead us."

"_Merci, mon cher_."

Quatre announced the change of plans to the others. "We'll go with Trowa's dangerous but quicker course, however, if any of you aren't of equal mind, I won't blame you from taking the main river."

After some discussion of the water way and its hazards, the fleet continued on, agreeing to stick together. The ships floated downstream, alone in a silent wilderness. Parts of the river branch were barely a hundred yards wide at its widest, full of islands, bends, and very rough whitewater in summer flood. They were all perfectly aware that no steamer had ever gone there before. The stream led past steep cliffs and barren badland. There was seldom a navigable stretch longer than 300 yards, and they were repeatedly forced to "grasshopper" over shallow sections.

At first it was beautiful. In the distance the sky sagged with dark clouds. Heavy rains in the mountains fed the streams than emptied into the Rogue creating waterfalls not yet frozen over, splashing onto rugged rocks rimmed with ice.

And then they hit white water, a cascade of crashing water. The main branch of the Rogue river took the drop in elevation slowly with tightly twisting "s" curves that took time to negotiate —time Trowa hadn't wanted to take again. Once with Duo and Heero on the flatboat had been adequate. But now Trowa questioned himself. This demanding steering operation at the end of a hard day might test them above and beyond.

He wasn't so sure his decision had been the best; regret tore at his heart and his chest felt as if a lion were sitting on him.

And then the white caps smoothed out. The rain runoff had kept up, flood waters pouring into the Rogue branch, raising the crest of the river sufficiently to enable the two steamers to navigate the treacherous shoals, pass over the reefs downstream and reunite with the main branch of the Rogue River unseen.

Their relief was short lived. When the small fleet passed Tumult, the muffled exhaust of the engines and sparks from the smokestacks were detected by enemy scout boats, who opened fire on the steamers. Solid shot from cannons struck the boats, but the bales of furs saved the men. _Heavyarms_ returned fire, blowing three ships out of the water, allowing the other ships to surge ahead and sink the remaining small boats.

Their feat in steering through the dangerous rapids of the upper, northern Rogue river would doubtless stand as the most daring exploit ever attempted on any river in the Sanc Kingdom. But in the reality of the moment, the men were thankful to be alive and to limp back to Sublimity in the pitch dark.

(o)

If it were day, the armament along the bridge barbed with weapons would be visible, but she knew that with the darkness and the fog she and her troops were no longer visible. Lucrezia Noin walked the bridge speaking to the troops offering support and encouragement and letting them know she, their commander, was standing with them to the end. She noted the new rapid-fire chain-rifles had been modified as handheld weapons and appeared to be the popular weapon of choice. She noted the injured men still standing after an enemy ship's cannon took out a parapet. She noted how lucky they'd been so far and how close to being blown sky high they had been.

But right now all was quiet on the river. The battle lines were being redrawn. A rest. A time out. Time to reflect. She had not regretted her decision to continue under Zechs' command, as rebellious as it was, even if it meant defying the governor's orders and attacking his forces. As proof of her loyalty, she elected to lead this bridge-demolition mission. Letting her heart make the choice and not her mind had been her most difficult decision. In the end, she had decided, if Zechs lost, she'd lose everything that meant anything to her anyway.

What had been more interesting to her was his marriage proposal following her pledge to comply with his authority. Zechs had been breathless with excitement! She hadn't dared to imagine he cared for her so deeply; he had disguised his attraction admirably, she thought. And Noin so adored him!

So she would give it her all and win this battle, for Zechs, for her, for them both, and then see what would happen next and what the future would bring, for him, for her, for them both.

First, she had to bring this battle to a successful end. When it came to night attacks, the primary mission had to be: Protect the ships in the dark. To do that challenged the strategy: Intercept the nighttime intruders. This was impossible to do.

It was hard to see and move those huge gunboats in the dark. The pilothouse was usually empty – it wasn't navigational gear that guided the vessel, it was the pilot's phenomenal memory, and an uncanny sixth sense that kept the boat out of trouble. The final battle was to be a test of the pilots and the engineers keeping the damaged vessels afloat, and those singular acts of bravery that separate the winners from the losers.

Noin had a plan, Zechs' plan with a few modifications from the young Winner lad, and everyone had bought into it and had been working toward it all day. Rather than picking off the enemy ships in the dark, if that even could be done, she was to obliterate them all in one masterful act of destruction. All it took was for the enemy ships to attempt to break through the barricade and pass under the bridge. Having been foiled in this attempt all day until the entire enemy fleet was present, all Howard's ships had to do now was contrive a way to get them to move tonight.

"No time like the present," she muttered to herself. Her view over the river disturbed her. Dark shapes loomed on the water, wading through the fog that lay like a canopy. The jackets and cloaks of the shipmen fluttered like graves-clothes. Glowing lamps bobbed and floated like the eyes of demons.

The air was cold, damp and stank like a forest fire. There were dozens of fire-breathing steam engine-powered ships, each with sometimes one, but usually two lofty, flared, crowned chimneys ("Never called 'stacks'!" Howard declared) sending columns of wood smoke aloft. Swung between them was gingerbread, the indentifying initials or insignia of the boat, or the company that owned it. High on the chimneys were passing lights, big lanterns. Steamers could run at night in deep water, but didn't risk low or dangerous stretches in the dark, even with lamps. Illumination was scanty coming from fancy brass cabin lamps, or even the plebeian, square-sided deck and hold lanterns.

Shallows became marked by torch baskets, iron cages stuffed with blazing pine knots on the end of sharp-pointed iron staffs thrust into the river's bank, which flickered and sputtered maniacally.

She turned toward the sound of dashing footfalls and hushed whisperings. One of the swarthy Maguanacs pushed past her guard, calling out in a husky voice, "Urgent message for Colonel Noin!"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Habib, ma'am." He bowed slightly and she saluted in return. "The governor himself has been seen aboard the General Septum ship," the man began.

"Treize Khushrenada's out there?" She was shocked that he would take such a chance with his life. "Who reported this?"

The man grinned looking quite confident in his source. "The school master, Chang, Ma'am." He shifted his eyes to look over her shoulder. "Also, the enemy ships are moving, shifting into position."

"To attack?"

"To pass through, we presume."

"Thank you. We'll evacuate the bridge. If you aren't expected back to your boat and you stay on, I'll put you to work clearing the far end of the bridge, mister--?"

"Habib. My name is Habib. My father always warned me before I made a rash decision, 'A chameleon does not leave one tree until he is sure of another.'"

"Wise advice, Habib. I'm afraid I haven't the time to prove myself to you, though."

"Yes, ma'am, but Mr. Chang's faith in you is enough. I am at your service."

"Good." Noin sent word down the line to leave the bridge and go to the prepared places for cover. Earlier, she had made preparations for firing the bridge by piling dry wood and loose cotton at intervals along the deck. Now, men raced across the floor beams, setting out small barrels of turpentine. The Sweepers barge was an old derelict, packed with Chinese explosives guaranteed to take out all the supporting abutments. All that would be left, she'd been promised, would be the Sanc Red Oak piers, supporting the spans.

As she darted across to find cover, she could see the Barton flotilla approach her bridge. Her report to Zechs would read later, "At about 1 a.m., our ground troops on the left were fired upon. From my count most of the enemies' ships were in the vicinity of the bridge and we could delay no longer. The Sweepers had successfully moved their barge so as to be in contact with the bridge but no longer obstructing the passage; they in turn left the barge and came pell-mell to share our trenches. I had stationed an officer at each end of the bridge, one a new enlistee, Habib, from the Maguanacs, and after seeing all our men safe, I gave the signal to apply the torch. In a few moments the bridge was in flames and was quickly and thoroughly burned."

(o)

The bridge took form as a fiery arch, setting the thinning fog aglow, while a cold wind drove away the mist in gusts of rain. The sight mesmerized Wufei for a moment, his thoughts racing back to summertime. He'd been standing in a field shooting pheasants for dinner. White Queen Anne's lace blooming in the dry, grass had reminded Hilde of a star-studded night sky, except that the field was hot and it wasn't dark. She had the oddest, loveliest expressions. It wasn't the vision he'd expected to come to mind, but it was the sun on his face and the peacefulness that he craved. He wanted that now-- a warm, sunny day full of promises and mystery like the heavens and far distant from the horrors of this night.

_What am I doing_? He shook off his temporary mental getaway, chastising himself. _Daydreaming about flowers and my woman!_

He looked away, unable to watch the debacle, the lives lost as the burning bridge fell upon the enemy ships. That's when he saw a fleet of more ships arriving from the north and his heart sank.

_No! _

_But, wait! What was that?!_

_There was a flare from one. That had to be Quatre returning! _

_Yes! There was Heavyarms, listing badly, and Sandrock, but what ship was that in the lead?_

_Could that be Zechs, his troops aboard a commandeered ship? _

He watched Quatre, Trowa, and the bulk of the Maguanacs pass the shores of Sublimity as the bridge exploded. Noin's small force had destroyed the bridge as ordered, while Howard's ships were now engaging those of the enemy undamaged and attempting to flee the burning carnage. The lead ship was close enough that Wufei could read its name, _Tallgeese._

As he watched, _Tallgeese, _entered the fray with _Heavyarms, Sandrock, _and_ the Mag-units_ spreading out across the river intent on driving the remaining enemy ships back upon _Wing, Deathscythe, _andhis_ Nataku_.

Septum's ship had been the last to near the bridge and so had escaped undamaged. It was drawing near; Nataku was the closest ship. This would be the final act of glory.

_Oh, yes._ Wufei hadn't forgotten the humiliation he'd felt from sharing the rose-scented bath with the man. His blood rose at the memory.

"Treize," he yelled, "I avenge my honor!" Wufei launched into an attack brandishing his extendable "dragon fang" high-power flamethrowers, which could melt metal, and directed his hits toward the engine.

"Chang Wufei? I meet your challenge!" the governor retorted, but Wufei felt Treize Khushrenada lacked drive, that he seemed apathetic toward the match.

Wufei could tell the man had lost hope. Granted, his Nataku's close combat abilities were superior to those of Septum's ship, but he could see that Treize was hardly lifting an arm to do more that offer the weakest defense. "Fight, man!"

Treize turned his way and said, "Humans need a higher system than god."

Wufei struggled to follow his train of thought. "That's ridiculous! Of course not!"

"You think so? Ah, too bad then. I forgive you, my little dragon. Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much."

"You are insane," Wufei muttered, then louder told the leader, "Just surrender. Give up your disloyal and unrighteous beliefs. A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."

"You may be right," Treize said humbly, "but I doubt it." Then, he stepped aside, baring a path to the steam engine.

_Was he doing that on purpose,_ Wufei wondered? Treize, apparently of his own volition, was allowing the "dragon fang" to pierce the ship's power core, resulting in its destruction.

The explosion lit the night, and then the last of the enemy ships sank—all just to avoid admitting defeat and laying down his arms.

The battle ended just as the rain turned to snow. Snow was rare in Sublimity, but then so was war. The snow would cover the wounds to the ground, the woods, and would in effect, make the land finer and purer—more sublime, in fact. Wufei hoped the battle would lead to changes that would do the same kingdom- wide.

* * *

End Chapter 30

"Humans need a higher system than god."-- Treize, Episode 14

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."-- Oscar Wilde

"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much."--Oscar Wilde


	31. Chapter 31

**Halfway to Sublimity**

**Chapter Thirty-One**

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters. I make no monetary profit off this story.

Warnings: AU, language, rated for male x male sexual situations

* * *

(This is ending with Duo's POV-- like the story began, right?)

"I hate snow and all things cold related to it, like icicles messing with the shingles, an' the ice crackin' up my walkway making more work for me in spring. Ruggie? If I'd wanted to live with snow I'da gone north."

Duo had been shoveling and mopping up for hours. The seasonal but uncommon snow hit unexpectedly and there was no easy way to deal with it. He'd had to clear the dock, the path to the house, around the house, and eventually the path to the roadway and to the boatyard.

And, not with Heero's help either, just him. Heero was due back from Serendipity any time and he wanted to look as if he'd been taking care of things and not just sleeping and playing with his dog Ruggles.

He could have stayed with Heero, and it even made some sense, since he could have stayed and bummed around with his old Sweeper buds at the shipyards, but someone needed to get the old home fires burning and he wanted to be that person. Funny thing. He'd become such a homebody. Sure, blowing up ships had been fun, while it lasted, but when the smoke settled, there'd been a lotta folks hurt, good ships damaged and lost, and a few people died—good and bad, but none his closest friends.

"I'm looking forward to the spring. There's celebrating my first-year anniversary of coming to Sublimity and meeting Heero, that's something special. There's Zechs and Noin's craptastically overblown no-surprise-there wedding to get all dress up for. Um… oh Trowa and Quatre's, steamboat shows ought to be starting by then. That'll be fun. Oh, Wufei and Hilde's baby is due, or is that in summer? What's wrong with you? Don't you remember either?"

Ruggles whined and rolled over, begging for belly scratches not irritating questions, then he stiffened and instantly righted himself and dashed, barking up a storm all the way to the front door.

Heero opened the door, ready for an armful of excited dog and lover. "Hey, don't slobber—no, Duo, you can, just not Ruggles."

"Missed you."

"Yeah, me, too. Howard sends greetings. Trowa, too. Quatre sends, well, take my pack, you'll see. All kinds of food."

"Food! Yay, Quat! Whoa! Habib just sent over some of his lentil soup for us and another of his proverbs."

"Which one was that?"

"'In the eyes of his mother the monkey is a gazelle.' Go figure, but fresh bread! God, we'll have a feast tonight."

"Yes, we will." Heero's expression as his eyes roved over Duo's face, chest, and legs spoke silently of a carnal feast to come of a sexual kind.

"I slipped some meat into the soup."

"Good." Heero rubbed his groin into Duo's. "I got some _meat_ of my own to stuff somewhere."

"Oooh, a come on. I like that and anticipating your _coming_, I thought up something to do about it on my own."

"I'm ready for anything you want to give me," Heero said, all husky-voiced.

"I got the tub water heating up, for later, I figured."

"You figured right."

Heero wasted no time cleaning up for dinner and Duo ladled bowls of warm soup. There were the thick slices of bread to slather with sweet butter and jam, bursting with the taste of summer past and bottles of beer from the White Fang. Desert was a long hot soak in the tub.

When Duo stepped out of the tub, Heero helped him wrap his hair in a towel, then led him to the bedroom.

"You're still wet," Duo commented while running a hand over the hard, toned body he knew so intimately and loved so well. "Wanna massage?"

"Yes." He sank face down, arms spread wide onto the bed as proof.

Duo poured a handful of mineral oil and let it warm slightly in his palms before letting it drizzle between his fingers onto Heero's back. He worked from the neck and shoulders down to the trim waist standing by the side of the bed.

"I just love touching you." Duo didn't expect a reply and got a 'hn' at best.

He started manipulating the muscles of Heero's neck and shoulders, loving the feel of the golden tanned skin and rope-like muscles born of hard work. Then, he squeezed and pressed his way down each arm all the way to the fingertips.

"Relaxed?"

"Uh, huh."

"Yeah, I find it's so relaxing when you do it to me, too. This is sort of how everything between us usually starts. Sore muscles and too much day to day stress. A friendly back rub that leads to a leg massage to the full body massage when you need it."

Duo spent a lot of time massaging his back and buttocks, now eliciting moans from his lover. He used just the right amount of pressure on Heero's thighs and calves to make him groan and finished up with a brain-voiding foot and toe massage. After that, he had to help Heero roll over.

Again, he started at the wide shoulders, relieving the strains, and working his way down towards the toes only briefly brushing past the straining cock.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself," Duo said, his voice low. "This feel good?"

"You know it does." Heero made that quick reassurance. "It's just that you're quiet, as in, you're not talking or even looking me in the eye."

"If I look into your eyes I'm gonna loose myself here. I wanted to give you something good and finish the job."

"Fuck finishing."

Duo met his eyes, "Okay, hot stuff," and crawled over him in order to reach his lips and kiss him thoroughly. For several minutes they confessed their feelings, their needs and love for one another through their touches.

When Duo broke the lip-lock, he tried to put his thoughts into words. "Before I met you I didn't know what love was. Sex was just a physical release. Now I have everything and I just don't know how I got so lucky."

"Me neither. And I have another dilemma."

Duo actually was worried by that. "What?"

"Shh, it's all right," Heero said, smothering him with another kiss and then saying, "I'm just trying to build up a little more sexual tension."

"Got plenty of that—"Duo began his complaint.

"Well, I still don't know what I want more, for you to make love to me or if I should make love to you."

Duo chuckled. "What difference does it make? We'll both feel great no matter what."

"True. So, I'm flat on my back and more relaxed than I've ever been. Take me now, lover." Heero flashed him a big, devilish grin. "On one condition."

"What's that, _babe_?" Duo asked. _Very sexy grin._

"I'm docking the boat next time 'round."

"Okay, okay," he giggled, almost giggled, and bounced around in anticipation of making his next move.

"Just don't break my ribs," Heero warned.

Duo looked down at the pulsing erection about a foot or so under his chin and reached to fondle it. Heero closed his eyes and let him jack his cock for less than a minute before twisting and body slamming Duo onto the bed.

"What was… that for?" Duo asked, gasping at the pressing weight to his diaphragm as Heero crawled over him.

"For stalling , you fucking tease." Heero smiled.

"I wasn't stalling, just taking some time to make you feel good."

"My dick already felt plenty good. Now," he said reaching back for Duo's erection, "I want you to feel good."

Duo cried out, "God 'Ro!" when Heero lowered himself slowly, carefully onto his lover's hard on until it was buried deep.

Wiggling to adjust himself, nearly made Duo lose control. He opened his eyes. Big mistake. The look of pleasure on Heero's face and his incredibly hot torso had him biting his tongue to gain some self-restraint.

"Jeee-sus!"

Heero started to ride him right away.

Duo whined, "S-slow d-down," which he ignored. Only when he squeezed and pulled at his cock did he slow and stop for a short breather.

A short one because his needs took over. It was a short ride to nirvana for sure. And then, after all that love making Heero had a full erection, again.

"Doesn't that thing ever go down?" Duo asked, smiling lewdly and not a little bit winded.

"Now and then, yeah, but rarely when you're around. Come lay next to me while I sleep?"

Duo blew out the bedside candle and snuggled under the thick layer of blankets. "Sure, babe. If you're good I may wake you up with a present for Mr. Happy!"

Duo laughed as Heero's face scrunched up in distaste. "Mr.--? Never mind Mr. _Happy_, just let me hold you."

Duo felt a wet kiss smear across his cheek, and then the sometimes painful grip of Heero's arms pulling him into place and wrapping him in his warm embrace. The grip went slack moments later as Heero fell asleep. He was breathing deeply in minutes. After about an hour of alternating between watching Heero sleep and counting his lucky stars, Duo thanked God for small miracles, closed his eyes, and nodded off.

(o)

The young man closed the thick file, taking great care not to damage the aging papers within. "And that's the story," he said, "Admittedly, distorted by my family's point of view."

"Wow." The young woman shot the cute librarian a winning smile. "Thank you for all this--sharing your great grandfather's diary and your time and everything."

"You are very welcome. I, in fact, enjoyed having someone so interested in the history of this region. I took great pleasure in it-- immensely."

"I think you should write a book, a history book based on what you have there."

"Well," he demurred, "I once thought about it."

"Oh, you should do it! How much of this can be verified? Can I visit these locations?" She didn't bother curbing her enthusiasm. She liked his faintly Asian looks and the frank looks of appreciation he kept giving her.

"Some. The Governor Khushrenada's estate is a museum, open to the public in what is now Atlas City. And, before you ask, I checked; the caves were all blasted close."

"What about the Watergardens?"

"The building is still there. It still exists as a holding of the Winner Corporation, but is closed to the public. The Merquise fortress stands but it is fenced off. The rest is gone completely."

"Gone?"

"Totally. Wiped out by the Great Flood."

"Tell me, tell me! I've been trekking the badlands of L4 and I'm new to Sanc."

"Oh, that's right, you told me that." He sat back, interlacing his fingers and taking a moment to pull together his thoughts, including those centering on the exceptional girl sitting across the desk from him. Vivacious and new and hot. He leaned forward, fingering a loose hank of silky dark hair that had fallen into his mouth. "Okay, well, the winter of the steamship battle was the second or so of several cold winters. Snow built up in the mountains, especially to the north until one spring there was an early heat wave and the melt came too much and too fast and turned the Rogue into, well, its namesake. Here, I have a collection of articles I can show you."

"Here," he opened another folder and read aloud, "The flood struck the upper Rogue River, displacing or killing at least 15,000 and shattering the notion that river engineering had eliminated the threat of flooding." He flipped to another page. "Let's see, oh, this is interesting: 'The invention of the steam engine had brought incredible changes. Railroads for one thing started replacing most of the river traffic. Young people left the rural areas and moved to the cities, leaving these small towns to dwindle---'" The librarian checked that his listener was still interested, then said, "-- which is why so few were actually killed and why no one bothered to come back and try to rebuild."

"That's so sad, though. They all sounded so happy living there."

"They did, didn't they? I always thought so, too." He flashed a nervous smile then pushed his wire-rimmed glasses further up his nose. "This article blames the burning of wood to fuel steam engines for the clearing of low-lying lands that had once been forests and speeding the spread of the flood waters."

"The Sanc Red oak is protected now, isn't it?"

"Mostly, in the preserves. Seems like everything's protected now except my pocketbook."

The girl laughed. "No kidding!"

"Um, yeah," he shuffled past a couple pages, and read, "So, after several years of heavy snow buildup, the spring saw warm weather, record rainfall (with more than seven inches falling on Sublimity in just a few hours), and early snow melted in the north, causing the upper Rogue to swell. Rain fell in the Sublimity to Serendipity valley, sending the smaller full rivers gushing into the already swollen Rogue. There was no place for it to go because the ground was saturated. Lakes, rivers, and streambeds were full."

"Sounds terrible."

"Yes. Luckily for L3, at the Rogue's destination there was scant rain and it remained dry and the excess drained to the sea, or L3 would have been a mess."

"That's good. I grew up there, you know," she said.

"You did? I'm native Sanc, I'm afraid. Not very exotic."

"But it's where everything cool happens!"

They exchanged shy smiles and then she asked for more information.

"Yes, there's more here. 'Floods devastated the land, cresting at about 49 feet In some places, the river was sixty miles wide. Every town was flooded under the enormous surge of water.' Here it says downtown Serendipity was 'dry and dusty at noon, but by 2:00 p.m. mules were drowning on Main Street faster than people could unhitch them from wagons.' Ah, water poured in and had nowhere to go."

"Poor mules, huh?"

"It gets worse. Listen to this: 'Homes and stores stood for months in six to thirty feet of murky water. Dead animals floated everywhere. With the floodwater having nowhere to go, much of the flood zone remained under water through the spring and summer and into the fall. Farmers could not plant crops. The carcasses of thousands of dead animals lay rotting in stagnant pools. Mosquitoes found perfect conditions to breed that summer, carrying malaria and typhoid to refugee camps already burdened with dysentery and the threat of smallpox.'"

"So how much was wiped out?" she asked.

"Okay… looks like 27,000 square miles of land was inundated, not to mention that all the bridges and roads required extensive rebuilding."

"No wonder no one wanted to return, that and the dead animals."

"Right, instead, the river was dammed, making it the trickle it is today." He concluded by closing the folder.

"So sad. Were any of the people you've told me about washed away?"

"No. Surprisingly, they had already all moved away or were out of town at the time. Like I said, there was this mass migration of folks to the cities. Anyway, Duo, Heero, Wufei, Trowa-- they became rather wealthy all having shares in the steam engine inventions of Winner Corporation, and remained lifelong friends."

"I heard stories about them growing up, not many, but a few. But how about that boy Todd who worked at the cabin?"

"I don't know, but I'll bet there's records at the Watergardens that could tell us."

"We'll have to go there and find out. Maybe there's still someone who knows our ancestors there?"

"Possibly."

"Tell me about your family connection to all this. You said you had one and my guess is through Wufei Chang, because, well, Heero wouldn't have had children and you like look kinda Oriental."

"You're right, though it's pretty dilute, I think."

"Oh, yes! Very! Just, um, all in a good way."

After embarrassing themselves, the librarian pulled himself together to say, "My great grandfather was Wufei and his wife, Hilde, was my great grandmother. They had become embroiled in government issues, moving them to Sanc. They were part of the force behind changing the anti-gay laws, probably because they weren't. Zechs and his sister, Relena, were strong proponents as well."

"That's cool to have such forward-thinking relatives."

"Heh, heh, I'm sure Wufei had some pressure behind him. Quatre Winner had wasted no time demanding Zechs use his new position as General to Duke Dermail and change the gay laws. Dermail intended to continue using Relena as a figurehead, but Winner wanted her to be promoted to prime minister, that or himself. My great grandfather stepped in and resolved it all."

"I guess having been the one to kill that Treize Khushrenada guy gave him some powerful credentials."

"I guess, though, it haunted him all his life. He'd wanted a real fight, you know, an honor thing."

"Men and honor!" she laughed.

"Well, sure—"

"That _noblesse oblige_ thing was big back then, huh? Good thing, because Zechs Merquise helped out my family, which was the Blooms in L3. He found Trowa Barton's connection there with an aunt and uncle and an estate of his own and money, which he turned over to Catherine."

"That was nice of him."

"Yeah, he didn't need it. And she stayed with the circus. She, ah, my great grandmother was Catherine Bloom. I guess that's where I get my wild streak."

"Wild? I think you're charming." Realizing what he'd said, caused the librarian another awkward moment.

The young woman giggled and revealed her depths of sensitivity when she quickly changed the subject. "What of Dorothy the laundry lady?"

The young man jumped at the opportunity to display his knowledge and establish his creds once again with the cute girl. "She became Relena's personal assistant and closest advisor. Dorothy was a very strong willed, determined woman, and kind at heart, but saw her kindness as a weakness. I think she grew into her role and accepted who she was, because she stayed with Relena until her death. Oh, and don't ask why a retired general built that bridge."

"I think it's obvious. Dorothy's father wanted to replace the shipping with overland trade entirely and to do that he'd have to bridge the rivers. And that hadn't been popular with guys like that Dekim Barton who had everything bet on the water trade. That about started the whole war thing those guys had."

"I'd say you're probably right." He smiled. "You must have grown up hearing about some of these guys."

"I know my great grandmother left a few stories about her brother and his steamboat showboats, but that happened later, after the war and all."

"That's right. Trowa took charge of one of the Winner Corporation enterprises. He upgraded and fancified a couple of steamboats and docked them in Serendipity and Sublimity." He withdrew a photograph. "Many of the old-time dances of the towns were given on board his steamboats, which would be tied up at the docks or cruise up and down the river, anchoring at times on dark nights on river."

"The boats carried their own orchestra, I was told," she added, "Yeah, like in that picture, they looked like, like palatial passenger boats. Hospitality reigned, and no admission fee being charged."

"My great grandfather said that he and Quatre remained together all their lives and died only months apart in time."

"How romantic, huh? What about Duo and Heero?" she asked.

"Duo and Heero traveled a lot to see to the growing steam engine powered train routes, then moved much further away, taking the last steamboat out of Sublimity."

He handed her a few more photos of old flatboats and docks. "These were all taken years later, after the flood and pretty far south."

"And you say those places are really gone totally?"

"Yes. Before you get to the highway to Atlas City, there's a turn off for the Rogue River nature preserve. There's hiking trails and the access road to the Watergardens."

"I'd like to go there and see for myself what the flood left behind. Maybe I can find a piece of that bridge."

The overhead lights blinked off and back on a couple times.

"Is it that late?"

"I've kept you all afternoon!"

"My pleasure. Really. Say, would you like to see the Peacecraft estate? It's not far, up on a hilltop in town. All the streets around it are named after the lost towns along the river."

"Oh, I'd love to! I may need to get a bite to eat, though."

"Perfect, I know a wonderful bistro a short walk away."

"I think I'm going to enjoy my visit to Sanc, Mr. Chang."

"Max, please. Mr. Chang's my father."

"Max. Nice. And I'm Dotty. Dotty Devers." She made a face. "My crazy parents," she said with a shrug.

"Mine, too. So, your great grandmother was Catherine Bloom."

"Yep, and I was named after Dorothy Catalonia. And don't tell me, you were obviously named after—"

"Duo Maxwell. You guessed it. Great grandson of Wufei and Hilde Chang gets named Max."

"Aren't we the pair? What do you think the odds are of us meeting this way?"

"Better than Duo and Heero's odds at finding one another and they managed to find true sublimity; at least that's what I was told, and, in fact, I think they ended up living in Euphoria, by the sea."

"Now that's a romantic ending," she said, gathering her purse and following the most interesting young man out of the library and on a new journey.

(o)

Heero asked, "Did your travels ever take you to the coast?"

"Have I seen the ocean?" Duo rephrased the question. "Nope. I mean, once I got here… What could be better than a place called Sublimity?"

"I don't know, but I've heard of a small town further south named Euphoria."

"You're kidding." Duo searched Heero's face for a clue to whether or not he was pulling his leg.

"I'm not."

"Funny name," Duo said. "Kinda braggy, I'd say."

"Maybe it's the truth? I once heard of a place called Perfidy. It was a small village once separate, but later it merged with the next town over."

"Merged, indeed," Duo remarked.

"Really, I mean, actually. The buildings were so close together they looked stitched...or, knitted by the interwoven bricks at the edges."

"You never went on like that before."

"No poetic observations?" Heero asked with a smile.

"No, you were the silent spectator type."

"The shop windows reflected steely panes as if they were riveted shut," Heero went on.

Duo grunted. "Doesn't sound friendly," he said. "Let's avoid the place."

"I was describing the town of Perfidy." Means 'treachery' but actually the place had a good feel to it. I liked it there."

Duo looked his lover over and shook his head. "You would."

"Just kidding. You know, I always wanted a real vacation."

"Oh, yeah? And you're thinking of this Euphoria place? Then let's go."

And they did, giving Todd the keys to their house, to give to Rashid when next he saw him.

"Tomorrow," Todd Sweeny said. "He's driving me to boarding school in Sanc, if you can believe it. Me! In the capital!"

"You'll knock'em dead with your work ethic and smart-ass attitude," Heero said.

"Think so? Well, thanks, and write to me, through Mr. Winner. He'll have my address there."

Duo promised he would and then they took Ruggles for a walk to their boat, and hopped aboard. The Rogue River was at peak spring flood and the small steamboat_, Wing2,_ passed serenely over the sand bars, churning south without once catching on spars or fallen trees. The river led on through useful reef-bordered channels, the land beyond the banks more beautiful with every day. Draws and bottomlands were choked with wild plums, cherries, gooseberries, currants, and strawberries. The prairie was alive with animals.

Duo and Heero feasted on wild fruit and fresh meat, sharing the later with their scruffy companion, and indulged themselves with a sense of timelessness – of savoring Eden. They traveled day after day up the dazzling sunlit reaches toward the retreating horizons of an untracked and smiling world, never looking back to when the last boat vanished - plumed smoke, misted paddles, and mournful whistle - from the Rogue River.

* * *

A/N: The quote: "I'm docking the boat next time 'round," is courtesy of Waterlily.

The End, Halfway to Sublimity

A/N: Thank you for sticking with this story for nearly two years. I hope you liked the look into the past and the characterizations of the Gundam boys. My thanks go out to all of you who've provided feedback and shared your comments. Take care. --KS


End file.
